Last Resort
by PuraStones
Summary: Hera/Juno's plan for Camp half-blood and Camp Jupiter didn't work. Percy makes a decision that changes his life forever. Prophecies are ruined, the fates are blind. New twists and beware Gaea! Takes place after the Son of Neptune. Warnings: hurt, angst, mild swearing, etc. Rating changed due to swearing and mild violence later.
1. Plans are crap!

**A/N: I have no idea where this comes from. Trust me, I never do. I just need to let it out. If anyone wants this story to continue, ask for it. Inspiration is a gift and also a curse; it bugs me until I unleash it. So well, enjoy folks!**

**Plot: I've read the whole Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, but for the second one, I've only read Son of Neptune. The lost hero didn't mention Percy much so I skip it. Mark of Athena didn't arrive in my country yet. This story happens after Son of Neptune. The Romans would come to camp half-blood in my story. **

**Chapter 1: **Plans are crap

Percy's Point of view:

_Four hours ago:_

I'd expected my stay in camp half-blood would be peaceful enough after my quest for camp Jupiter. But man, fairness and life never went along. After my new friends in Rome and I won the battle with the giants, I told them to go to camp half-blood. Frank, Hazel and I had heard the prophecy and we really didn't like the "Mark of Athena would burn through Rome" part. I had advantages being the Roman's praetor and had persuaded them to go to the Greek camp with me. It took a great amount of time and a lot of help from Frank, Hazel and Tyson. I was really grateful that I was quite an optimist or I would have given in after the first discussion. Reyna's reaction to my offer was okay but the rest wasn't cool with it. But everyone wanted to see their old leader, Jason again so after fights and hesitation, we were finally here.

_Present:_

Regret has never been in my dictionary. There might be fear, hesitation, doubts but never regrets. I had always learnt to understand and accept the past so that I can deal with the present and move on to the future but right now, I really just want to run away from everything in front of me. Jason is standing face-to-face with me and his face is bright red with anger. Since we reached the camp, the Greeks and the Romans have already tried to start a civil war but with Jason and my great effort, we have calmed both sides down a bit. But Jason has problems _with me_ and even though I didn't really do anything to him, I know he's jealous because in a short time, I have taken his place as a praetor of camp Jupiter. The heat of this place starts to come up higher every second and something inside me really wants to punch the kid straight in the face.

"We should attack the giants and search for the Doors of Death right now! We have no time to rescue that son of Hades!" – growls Jason, his spit flies everywhere.

"Jason, I know there isn't much time left but we have to stay calm and come up with something good enough that can guarantee our success. Besides, Nico probably knows where those doors are. He's a son of Hades after all!" – After a deep breath, I reply Jason. He is obviously not pleased with my answer.

"We can find those doors ourselves. Gaea is using that kid as bait and she knows that you will foolishly stumble right into that trap to save the brat then she will capture you. Why are you so blind?"

The two camps divided into two groups. The Greeks stands behind my back and the Roman's after Jason while Piper, Leo, Frank and Hazel are in denial of which sides should they take. I don't blame any of them. My blood is boiling in my veins and I can feel that every single second passed, Nico's life is nearer to the end. I had let Bianca go there and I will absolutely not going to let that happen to Nico.

"Jason, Nico's _our _cousin. Hazel's his sister. She can't fight this war without him. I know it's a setup but we can avoid being caught if we're careful. We need to make sure that everybody here is in shape for the war, both physically and mentally. Gaea is trying to hurt us and create conflicts between the camps, Jason!" – With a monotone, I explain my reasons to him and hope that they can somehow enter his thick skull but like father like son, he was just as big-headed as Zeus or Jupiter, or whatever.

"Jackson, the Roman warriors can defeat the enemies easily and with the numbers of both sides, we can find the doors in no time…"

"Yeah and during that time, Gaea will happily leave us alone so that we can wander around and ask for the directions, huh?" – Clarisse backs me up. Even we have a rough relationship, she still considers me as a faithful companion. I appreciate her siding with me, but the way she expressed it wasn't so wise.

"We Romans don't need help from anyone, Greeks!" – Now Jason has completely lost his mind.

"Jason, please don't think about us as Greeks and Romans in this time. Why can't we just be demi-gods, children of a god and a mortal? Why can't we just let go the past and cope with reality that we need to co-operate?" – I'm on the verge of losing my mind myself but my tone is still unbelievably collected and patient.

"Then listen to me and just go for it! Stop paying the damn concern about rubbish things and make plans! Prove that Greeks are smart and fast enough for this!" – Jason screams into my face, his voice is humiliating and unfortunately for everyone, he has just crossed _my limit_.

My hand has formed into a fist without me recognizing and I wonder if my face has changed color too. But it seems like it didn't since everyone is suddenly unusually quiet and stare at the _ground_. I don't have the feeling of blood burning my skin whenever I get angry anymore, but a thrust inside my stomach. I don't remember sensing the earth shaking under my feet but the next thing I know is Jason's blasting lightning at me while everyone shouts at me to stop. Then a punch hit my chest and catches my attention. It doesn't hurt but I startle and see Annabeth who is trying to calm me down. She's holding her fist after the punch, it's certain that I'm not easy to be harmed now. I blink and quickly take a step back to prevent myself from hurting her accidently. Taking more breathes and closing my eyes, I get my control back and look at everyone's faces. Then Octavian's voice reaches my eardrum and it's the final drop that makes the water spills:

"See everyone? The Greeks are trying to kill us! That traitor brought us here to kill us!"

"QUIET!" – My voice escapes my lips and it nearly tears my throat off.

Everyone is already frozen and now no-one dares to move a muscle. I realize that it's the perfect time to continue:

"Listen to me and listen well. I know it's HARD for both sides to let go the grudges, the hatred from the past. I know we have different fighting styles and skills and the way we prepare for fights are COMPLETELY THE OPPOSITE. I'm sorry if I offend Lady Athena or Minerva or whatever, but in real life, PLANS BACKFIRE! Yes, I admit that I really don't have a clear plan about what the hell we are going to do, because things are a damn CHAOS around here. I want to rescue that kid because he hasn't just helped all of us once, but many times already. Who cares he's a son of Hades? It's not about HOW we fight; it's about WHY we fight. When there's a good reason, a strong will then there will be a clear way! I know Romans don't care about that as long as they win the war, but to win, we must make sure we have enough CONDITIONS to win! Jason, if you thirst for admiration THAT badly, let me tell you something! If you want people to admire you, you have to keep them ALIVE first! You don't know a crap about the feeling when someone is being tortured or dying in front of your eyes and there's nothing you can do, do you? If you don't then I do and yeah, that's CRAP! But I'm glad that I have that in me, because it proves that I'm a living creature!"

Everyone is still deadly still after my long uninterrupted speech. I never know I can speak that long without pauses or loss of words. Even Annabeth gives me a strange look. My mind is a big mess right now. I have a bad feeling that Hera/Juno's plan to unite the two camps isn't going to help at all. While the demi-gods are trying to come back to their senses and ingest my speech, I glance at Clarisse and say:

"Hey, do you mind telling everyone to have dinner when things cool down a little? I need to clear my mind. Thanks."

She just simply nods and starts gathering the Greeks around while shooting daggers at the Romans. I sigh at the sight and walk towards the beach. The ocean may make me think straight about the issue. I stroll along the coast slowly and watch the sun goes down. Then a crazy, insane but hopeful plan flares up in my dull mind. Perhaps a son of Poseidon might be slow, but he can obviously do things that no-one can. It's a completely risky but reliable plan; especially the others wouldn't suffer the consequences even when the results turn out bad. It depends on how brave, daring, crazy, strong I am because it has to be me, always me. Looking back at everything that happened since I was twelve, I make the decision. Maybe this is what Phineas the blind fortune-teller meant before he died: I would suffer great pain and there will be a sacrifice that I wouldn't dare to make. Since I hate being restrained, I think I'm going to break a prophecy.

The sun finally goes to sleep and I smell the smoke from campfire. Watching the waves chasing each other, I whisper:

"Gaea, beware."

A/N: What do you think? If you want to know what happens next then just give me some reviews. Make me feel the love! Pretty please with cameral cream and a cherry on the top? Thank you guys!


	2. Determination

A/N: Thanks for all your reviews. It seems like I have just enough motivations to continue this one. My friend keeps pestering me about updating the next chapter and I guess I've done letting curiosity torturing her.

**Retrobution: **I really appreciate your review. I've been trying to correct all my grammar mistakes every time I write something and I guess I'm not too bad. If there are any mistakes I hope you can point them out for me! Thanks for your time.

**Guest 1: **This story isn't going to be like the typical ones you read. The whole plot is completely new and there will be plenty of surprises. Prepare yourself, okay?

**Guest 2: **Try to be patient, will you? I know it's really frustrating waiting for a new chapter but think about other readers, they have to wait, too! Yeah, it's so _damn good _to know that you're only happy to be my friend just because I write stories! Just kidding. Anyway, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: Even in my wildest dream, the Percy Jackson series doesn't belong to me.

**Chapter 2: Determination**

Hestia's Point of View:

The arrival of the Romans has been a big surprise for everyone. The grudges between Greeks and Romans aren't something that can be erased so easily and it's just sad. I have to agree with Perseus. They're both demi-gods so why can't they just let it go? I think about all the chaos while burning a little fire for myself. Loneliness has become my friend for a very long time now and I have got used to being ignored. Nico di Angelo and Perseus Jackson are the first two demi-gods that pay me some concern and attention in decades. Of course, they're really busy to visit me often but both of them always sacrifice food for me and for that, I really appreciate. I hope one day, there will be more than two kids paying their interest towards the hearth.

It was really late, about midnight. Almost all the campers are asleep in their cabins now, even the Romans. They don't accept sleeping in the cabins with their siblings so they have built a camp near the forest although sadly, they don't notice me. It's understandable since very few people know about me. It hurts sometimes but like I said, I have coped with that. It's quite peaceful now after Perseus and Jason's fight. The silence covered the whole camp and I feel like it's trying in vain to ease the tension between Greeks and Roman. Suddenly, flashes enter my mind and I stumble forward. Dozens of emotions and feelings about family, friends, relatives, and enemies fly into my mind and I'm quite surprised that a person can have that many emotions in a minute. Then some plans are formed slowly and I recognize it is Perseus' mind I'm seeing. He's making a plan, a deadly decision _again_. I wonder if he will ever get a safe and peaceful moment in his life. Concentrating, I can feel his strong will and feeling about his solution to the problem. Even it's insane and quite impossible, he will be able to save everyone with that sacrifice. There is no hesitation or fear in his train of thoughts and it's obvious that he's preparing for it. Perseus is already starting to execute his not-so-safe plan. Without a second thought, I head to the Poseidon cabin. The hero of Olympus really needs to talk to someone now.

**Percy's Point of View:**

I'm going to strike. No regrets. No hesitation. No turning back. No doubts. My plan starts now and I'm getting things ready. Important things like ambrosia, nectar, bandages, clothes and drachmas are already sheltered neatly in my rucksack. I will steal mortal's money later when the first steps of my insane plan works. Now I have to come up with a show which is able to fool everyone, including the gods. I thought of my plans while packing my stuff. Earning trust is difficult, but the throwing it away is eating a piece of cake. The problem is Annabeth. She's smart; she will figure things out, either sooner or later. I need to make sure that it will cover their eyes until things are _done_. Maybe Athena will accidently help me by persuading her daughter to turn against me. Even it hurts that I will have to cut all ties with my family and friends after months being away from them, I will do it if it's worth it.

Right now, I'm preparing my nerves for the second bath in the river of Styx. I had lost the curse of Achilles when I was in Rome and now I need it back. Then I will save Nico out of Gaea's prison. The kid will go back to camp and sadly, I will trick him afterwards when he's safe with the campers. Selfishly, I want to take Mrs. O'Leary with me or at least Blackjack, but they can expose my plan. No, I have to be all _alone_. It's a depressing thought. I took out Riptide, my fighting companion for 5 years now. I will have to throw it back to where it belongs soon after I have taken the path I'm choosing. Since I don't want any burden with me when I jump down the river and rescue Nico, I have to leave the rucksack here, for now. I'll be back for it later. Just to be careful, I put some drachmas in my pocket along with some ambrosia. I take a deep breath and get myself ready to sneak out of camp Half-blood, my home. Suddenly, a gentle knock on my door s my train of thoughts. _Shit! _I cursed inside me head. Who the hell wants to see me in the middle of the night? I rub my hair so it can look like I just woke up and approach the door. Opening it, I greet the visitor with a big yawn and my hand rubbing my eyes.

"Perseus, you don't need to pull that act on. I already know it."

The gentle warm voice startled me. I saw two red warm cozy orbs staring at me with a concern expression on the face of Lady Hestia. Knowing that I can't trick her since she already knows, I said politely:

"What can I do for you, my lady?"

"Walk with me; we need to talk about whatever you're thinking about." – She says calmly.

"Does anyone else…?" – I ask with hidden panic.

"Know…? No, only me, Perseus. You don't have to worry about that." – The goddess shakes her head lightly and gave me a reassuring smile.

With that, I get out of my cabin and close door. It's going to be a long conversation.

**Third person's Point of View:**

Percy followed the Goddess of Hearth to the forest. He wondered if Hestia was going to tell him to ditch the stupid risky plan of his or not. Anxiety filled the green-eyed demi-god. How did she find out? He didn't even reveal anything. Silence swallowed the whole camp. Everyone was asleep. When they reached the place that Hestia usually sat and burned the fire, they both stood still for a while. Lady Hestia began; it was her conversation after all:

"Perseus, I've discovered the path you're choosing to take. It's against nature and we both know that."

"I really appreciate your warning and your concern, my lady. I have considered it really carefully. I know exactly what I am doing and what risks I'm going to take." – replied Percy clearly. He had prepared for the answer.

"I personally suggest with all my heart that you should re-consider it, Perseus. Never had anyone, gods, demi-gods or mortals came up with a daring, insane, deadly but with a for-seen expected result like that. I must say, you're one rare flower, Perseus Jackson." – The goddess eyed the mortal son of Poseidon carefully like she was trying to see every corner of his soul or having a great effort defining what he was made of to create such a _mad_ plan.

"My lady… - The teenage boy spoke quietly. – "This plan, I'll make sure it works. We don't have to lose any more lives if I can hold on to it. I don't do this to show off, obviously or to prove how brave or powerful I am. I'm doing this because I'm afraid, afraid to suffer when death seeks for my friends and family. Surly, it will cause great pain to the campers along with my parents but it is worth to sacrifice. They will heal and find more joy in life if they have a chance to live. And for me, I'm a mortal, and not just any mortal but a son of the Big Three; I will die, sooner or later. I don't regret it."

Another pause ruled. The goddess heard Percy's confession and to their surprise, tears formed at the corner of Hestia's eyes. The hero of Olympus didn't know what to do and just when he opened his mouth to say something, Lady Hestia said:

"You're very determined, young Perseus. How are you planning to inform your mother and step-father of this?"

At this, Percy seemed to startle. He didn't think of that. A sharp jolt of guilt ripped through his soul making him frozen. He knew the Goddess wasn't telling him to not do this, not _directly _at least. She was trying to find some worthy reasons for him to let go the suicide attempt. Speaking of his mother, he needed his mother's blessing if he wanted to bath in the River of Styx, otherwise it wouldn't work. _I'll take my chances. _– thought Percy.

"My lady, I wasn't planning to let anyone know about this plan and that includes my mother and step-father. This is completely between me and Gaea and I really don't want anyone to get involved. For that, with all my respect, may I know how did you find out about this?" – His sea green eyes looked straight into Hestia's red blazing eyes.

"I'm the Goddess of Hearth and it's me who makes clear-sighted mortals, Perseus. I can see things the others don't, and that's also your crazy loyalty towards your family and friends. Of course, our wise Lady Athena has pointed out for the world to know but she only sees the bad side of your flaw. I guess in the end, young Perseus, you have turned your weakness into a kind of strength that helps you do crazy things." – replied Hestia thoughtfully.

"Thank you for caring about me, my Lady. I know this has to work, because the grudges between Greeks and Romans are too serious to be forgotten. I think I better execute my plan right now and before that, I have something to entreat, Lady Hestia." – Percy was about to kneel in front of the Goddess but she immediately shook her head.

"Tell me, hero of Olympus. I shall grant your entreaty."

"I'm hoping that you could swear on the River of Styx that you won't reveal my plan to anyone, even Blackjack and Mrs. O'Leary before it succeeds." – replied the son of the God of Seas serious with a total grown-up businesslike tone.

Lady Hestia blinked her eyes slowly. Of all requests, Perseus asked for this. The Goddess sighed heavily and spoke:

"I, Goddess of Hearth, swear on the River of Styx not to tell anyone, gods, mortals or animals Perseus Jackson's plan before he accomplishes it. Also, I give Perseus Jackson my blessing."

Thunder boomed on the horizon. Percy tried to understand what the Goddess blessed him for, and then realization hit him. Hestia gave him the blessing to bath in the River of Styx. The son of Poseidon swallowed air into his stomach and bowed at the Goddess. He said:

"I'm very grateful for everything you do for me, my Lady. I can't swear on the River of Styx, but I promise I'll try my best to make it out alive."

Lady Hestia gave the boy a weak smile and after that, Percy left. He approached Thalia's Pine, the gate of Camp Half-blood. The black-haired demi-god looked back at the place he considered as home before the suicidal mission.

"MRS. O'LEARY!" – He shouted, not too loudly and a giant hellhound ran towards him. He patted her on the head and said:

"How about a trip to the Underworld, big girl?"

_A/N: Was it good? Was it bad? Give me some reviews, folks! I appreciate everything. I'll try to update once a week, but no guarantee. But one thing for sure, I'm not going to abandon this story!_


	3. Mortal spot

A/N: Thanks for your lovely reviews! I'm so glad that quite lots of people have taken interest in my story. I guess I really can't ditch it anytime, can I?

Special thanks to **pepper34**, **GinaRogers**, **Chaotic Forces** and **jhett599** for following and favoring my story. I'll try my best to not disappoint you, but of course, no guarantee. :D

**Guest 1: **Thanks for your comment.

**Jacksaw12: **Glad that you like that idea. Percy's selfless; he'll do things like that to keep people safe. And yeah, Hestia's kindness really is admirable. And you don't need to be really well-prepared. Things will be fine. :D

**Olympus97: **Your excitement really motivates me! And is he joining Gaea or not you'll have to find out.

**AN (Guest): **God, you're so evil! As I recall, dear friend, you volunteered to drag yourself into this. Besides, I must remind you with all my respect that it's _my _story and I have the right to delete it if I feel like it! And I'm sorry to say that your threatening me doesn't really work. Almost everyone around me wants to finish me off and they never do. Besides, like our Percy said: "I'll die, sooner or later." I won't feel too bad if death looks for me early! Anyway, don't need to be so murderous for the next chapter because here it is!

_This chapter is for Elliott, my sweet reckless adoptive brother._

**Chapter 3: **Mortal spot

**Percy's Point of View:**

Mrs. O'Leary shadow-travelled me to where Nico was. I described the jar to her and she just ran into the shadow with me on her back. Since I had my memories wiped out, I had completely forgotten what it was like to run into the dark but strangely, when I got that feeling again, I was totally cool with it. I had changed. Roman Camp really did shape me into a mindless fighting machine and I wasn't so proud about that. But it also had its undeniable good side so I wouldn't complain too much about it.

"_Twins snuff out the angel's breath."_

Line number 3 of the Prophecy rang in my mind as my eyes glued on the thing that Nico di Angelo was in. Immediately, the urge I had of strangling the kid for not informing me that he knew me during my amnesic was gone when I realized the real meaning behind the line. The twins here were two twin giants, Ephialtes and Otis. My mind had difficulty in trying to process the _angel's breath _detail. Sure thing did I recognized that it was Nico they prophecy was talking about, but angel? Obviously, Nico di Angelo was young… Wait a second… Maybe that stupid word, angel did relate to the son of Hades. My jaw dropped open then I quickly grasped the idea which just sparked in my poor brain. _Angelo. _It was Italian and it meant _angel _in English.

Nobody messed up with my cousin and got away with it, I felt the same force of energy forming inside me again, just like when the Minotaur captured my mother when I was twelve. This time, I would use my anger _wisely_. The power that emotion provided me was beyond all the trainings could ever get me. Only if I could unleash it at the right moment and things would be just fine. My hand reached for Riptide. This might be one of the last fights before I returned it to my dad's domain. The jar looked stuffy and surly, Nico could be suffocated anytime soon. I eyed the whole "jail" and closed my eyes. I was ready.

_10 __**DAYS**__ LATER _**(A/N: Sorry guys, I couldn't describe the battle since I hadn't read Mark of Athena. I just simply wanted to get Nico out before Percy executed his plan since the kid would play quite an important part later.)**

Everything was done. I meant done here really meant _done_. The next thing I knew? Jeez, please tell me your nerves are strong enough or I wouldn't dare revealing the truth. Will you readers be okay? I guess you will since you might be not okay even more if you didn't know. Maybe I'd skip the tragic part. Good news or bad news first? Maybe they were all the same? Okay, let's just get through this thing.

Nico had got out of the hell hole with Mrs. O'Leary.

The giants were exterminated, thanks to my _stable _emotion.

I was in Tartarus, thanks to a titan that I didn't bother to remember the damn name.

So which of them do you like best, the victory part or the lame excuse for having lack of caution and ending up in the worst place on Earth? The main thing was I was being chased by a bunch of monsters and almost all of them knew my identity. It wasn't odd since _I _was the one who sent most of them to this place. I didn't regret that and I'd be glad doing it all over again and again to the rest of my life. The only issue I was having that every time I slain a monster it just ended up being here again since it was the place where monsters went after they were destroyed. The ambrosia I brought wasn't enough if I didn't find the way out. Now the Minotaur was charging me. I gave it glares that I didn't know I could. The Minotaur had history with me twice, first time when I first went to camp and the second one during the First Prophecy. It was understandable that it was pissed off. It was hard for me to kill it quickly since I didn't have the curse of Achilles anymore. But I knew one thing, even in my weakest state, I wouldn't let this piece of beef of a burger had the satisfaction of beating me.

**Unknown's Point of View:**

A demigod. A powerful one. No believable reasons for having punishments in this place. I was certain. I just knew. He survived well enough but it wouldn't last long. Should I step in? He was close to his limit. Panting like a dying person, he still fought without fear. No hesitation. No doubts. Just slash, dodge, jump, _kill_. He was a hybrid, like me. But I was worse. To him, I was a kind of monster myself. He was the one who pissed my creator off a few months ago. I enjoyed seeing the bastard being defeated. The Fates weren't fond of him. They didn't spare any creatures. They certainly saved him a special destiny. Ironically, they had no control over _me_.

The Drakon's smell. Nasty. He wasn't Ares' creation. No chance. Should I help? Why should I? Maybe I just felt like exterminating beasts. I'd done being useless.

I jumped in. My life changed.

**Percy's Point of View:**

A figure joined me in the battle. I wasn't sure whether that person wanted to help me or not but that obvious wasn't a monster. The figure had slender torso. Her face was hidden by the black hood of her long black cloak. Based on the long unbelievably bronze-chocolate brown hair, I figured it out that was a "she". I was glad I had a helping hand even it might end up her wanting me dead. The Drakon was having an urge of tearing me into pieces. The girl's moves were skillful, flexible, impossibly strong and tricky. Maybe she was a demi-god. Nonsense, no demi-gods deserved to be in this hell. My lungs were screaming me to give up and just die. Every muscle was burning under my skin, begging me to quit. My back was face-to-face with my new fighting-companion. Monsters surrounded us but the strange thing was they seemed to fear her. Maybe she fought them for a long time and she never gave up. If a little girl didn't give up, why would I? I clenched my teeth tight and composed my tiny amount of energy I had left. Who knows how much longer I could stand this unending battle?

"Focus, hero." – She spoke loud enough for me to hear, clear as crystal, softy as _silk_.

I wasn't sure if it was a command or not but I knew I needed to listen to her.

"Well, I'm focusing on not getting myself killed. What do you want me to focus on, exactly?"

"Not getting yourself distracted." – came the short reply.

"By…?" – I raised my eyebrow while dodging some serious attacks along with sending weak blows towards some monsters.

"The desire of giving in."

Was she a mind-reader or something? How did she know I wanted to give up? Neither of us was son nor daughter of Ares so defeating the Drakon seemed to be impossible. Then I saw a sight that gave me small relief that I wasn't the only insane person on this planet. The girl dived when the Drakon bore its ugly teeth out towards her, then she jumped on the Drakon's head after it missed its target. She ran among its long neck without losing balance and hold onto its wing. The girl shouted:

"Hold my hand."

I was too tired to ask for the reason. But I didn't need to.

"You have to get out of here."

"You're coming with me!" – I shouted back without thinking.

"We'll see."

I ran through the crowd of monsters using my sword to block anything from hurting me. I didn't really understand what her plan was; hopefully it wasn't as crazy as mine. But things were never like we expected. Her strategy was even madder mine which I couldn't decide whether it was good or bad. It was obvious that she didn't know where the Doors of Death was so she would bring us out by the way we went down. Or at least _I _went down. I wasn't sure about how she got here at first place.

Reaching for her small but impossibly strong hand, I gripped it with a little hesitation. Could she bear my weight? But I didn't have to worry about it. When my fingers met her palm, she caught my whole arm and pulled me up to the Drakon's back without even _trying_. What was this girl? Then she did something that I swore no demi-gods would have guts to do.

"Go, little Drakon!"

Did she just call it "little"? The monster didn't show any sign of wanting us to get off its back which was good and weird but it didn't seem to understand her command either.

"Sit. Try not to fall." – She headed to the Drakon's head.

It was the most terrifying scene I'd ever seen. When the Drakon felt her footsteps on it again, its claws reached for her wildly and the girl didn't even flinch. She made her way quickly to the opposite spot on its long mouth and looked into its eyes. Was she trying to suicide or something?

"Don't do that, it'll paralyze you!"

She didn't listen to my words. I was pretty sure she heard me. My vision blurred so I wasn't able to see the whole thing clearly but one thing I was deadly sure: The girl _looked straight into _the Drakon's orbs. Then she spoke really slowly and gently like soothing a child:

"Fly. Us. Out. Of. Here."

After that she darted back to the spot behind me to keep me sitting steadily. I felt ashamed for causing her troubles and holding us back but I couldn't help it. The Drakon seemed to get some ideas of her order but it was considering about it slowly. Even my ears weren't working well, I couldn't miss the sigh coming from her.

"Borrow your sword."

"Wait, what?" – I turned around to see her as she reached for Riptide without waiting for my respond.

"It needs a push." – Another short answer.

"What needs a push?" – I asked dumbly, sometimes I got frustrated because of my own stupidity.

The good thing was my new fighting comrade never left a question unanswered, but she had a weird way responding them all. Some answers were pretty spooky and I'd wished that she just didn't reply. I heard metal sawn off the hard scales of the Drakon and a roar tore off the air. Its wings started flapping slowly and lifted two of us up in the air. That girl actually hit the Drakon with Riptide like she was giddy-up a horse! Flying speed increased and I began having stars in my blurred vision. Wind and smoke wasn't a perfect combination because the smell was driving me sick with its stuffiness. My nerves suddenly were shocked by a small impact and I figured that she just kicked my back.

"Stay conscious."

"Stop being so bossy, kid!" – I groaned in depression, not sure it was because I was tired of being wounded or because of her being bossy.

"For your own good." – Why did she have to answer so shortly like that?

"How can the Drakon fly us out of here?" – I changed the subject with a good question.

"By its wings." – Was that a clear-as-crystal obvious?

"With this speed, it'll take weeks to the Underworld." – I stated tiredly while looking at the dark tunnel.

"It won't."

Then a chill ran down my spine. My internal organs seemed to be frozen. A familiar feeling rose. I felt this when Kronos slowed the time down in the battle on Andromeda ship. The sensation was stealing my consciousness even I tried to hold on to it. Knowing this, I turned my head to look at the figure behind my back.

"I think I'll take a small nap."

"Not now." – Came that short respond again and also a promotion. She punched me in the cheek that made me yelp.

"Hey, what was that for?" – But this time, there was no answer.

_3 __**HOURS **__LATER_

"Watch out." – Her calm voice entered my eardrum when the Drakon crashed to the surface of something.

Some souls of dead were surrounding us with angry expressions. I was too tired to feel scared or anything else. We both raised our weapon and she solved the problem quickly. But as she wiped out the ghosts, more and more of them came and we were outnumbered. So it came to second solution that we had to run before it was too late. My legs felt like they were made of marshmallows and soreness consumed my body but still, my mind screamed at my legs to run fast. It was a shame that I, a boy, let a girl fought for me. The kid, I decided to call her, was right behind me, blocking all the attacks from the angry ghosts. They were apparently trying to drag us back to Tartarus. No destinations were formed in my poor brain and the kid didn't bother asking either. We just ran, without any plans. Such a dramatic situation it was.

"Kid, can you spot any drops of water around here?"

She lowered her pace a little but still fast enough to catch up with me. After a few seconds running like mad, she reached for my hand again and started leading the way. The guards of the Underworld joined the fun, too. It seemed like creatures in Hades' palace loved playing tig/tag though there was a certain difference: the loser would not just simply lose the game but also their lives as well. Then I started to recognize she was leading us to. My eyes were hit by a familiar place, with statues of old warriors from the past and a big long black river flowing. The River of Styx was in our sight.

"I didn't mean this kind of water!" – I tried to drag her away from the river but it was too late. We were completely surrounded.

"Then what kind of water?"

I gave her a quick stunned glance, she didn't seem to be the kind of person who was slow like me, but it was clear that she didn't know what the River of Styx was. It was weird that she didn't know about it but she was able to bring us here.

"It's real water, I sense it. What's wrong?"

Having no energy to explain the whole situation, I, along with her turned to combat-fighting mode instead of playing tig/tag like few minutes ago.

"If we fall down, we might die."

"Might. Not will." – She repeated the modal verb of my statement. I had a bad feeling about this.

Being distracted by her respond, a ghost with its spear stabbed through my thigh. I hissed through my teeth painfully and automatically wrapped my hand around the wound to stop the bleeding which was a huge mistake. Seeing their chances, the ghosts attacked with full force at once and we were barely able to stand. The kid's strange sword slashed through the crowd but it was futile. She lost her balance when a ghost held her foot from the ground making her growl murderously. My mind went blank; the agony from everything was too much. With that, I jumped into the river of acid without thoughts.

Do any of you have enough time to make a list of how many times I escaped death since I knew I was a demi-god? Probably not. If you do, use that amount of time for other useful activities, like enjoy your peaceful as long as it lasts. This is an advice which comes from my heart. Anyway, as I prepared my body for the water to burn my skin into ash, I felt nothing. Maybe because I was in too much pain that I couldn't feel anything anymore. The water didn't hurt like last time, and I didn't _anything _at all. _Was I already dead?_ No way, I didn't allow myself to. Looking through the darkness, I saw her. The hood had left her head after the fall, revealing her face. The most special and _soul-sucking _part was her eyes. They were blue, but not electric blue like Zeus and his children's. The color was much more beautiful than that kind of blue, it was indescribable. Deep, pure blue, sparkle through darkness, glowing with power but unmistakable gentle and completely emotionless. There was nothing in the depth of those charming orbs. I snapped out of my train of thoughts as I remembered where the hell we were.

"Get out!" – I tried to send her the mute message.

I focused on her face. She didn't know what to do, just flowing among the water. I swam after her and caught her with a big effort. We reached the bank and that was when darkness swallowed me.

**A/N: So how was it? Give me some comments about it and we'll see if I'm going anywhere with this story. Just want to know if you're still interested in it. Thanks for spending time reading my story! Just leave a comment, okay?**


	4. Gamble

A/N: Another successful chapter which is quite unbelievable! I'm so happy, thanks to all of you who are reading this! (even the new readers who might read this story for the first time!)

Special thanks to **Ultimatum737, Intellectually, bender268, zsouthwell, Silent Phantom gal, AlixzandraJaydePhoenix, TheBlackCatMoon, koolkimoov and DeathmatchDrunkard **for following and favoring my story. You're wonderful readers!

**Hazel123: **Your reviews flatter me! I feel like flying while reading your comments for me! I guess I can't use any words to describe how happy and grateful I am so yeah, just thank for reading and spending time to write those fantastic reviews.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **I really appreciate your honest comments. I know it's quite annoying that there are a lot of parts I supposed to explain and describe properly but I really can't and don't have time! I'm so sorry if it makes you not pleased with my story but there's nothing I can do about that. About that new girl, well, you'll find out "who" she is in a few chapters. She's a "who", not a "what". I'd like you to know one thing that reading my stories really need great patience. Guessing only made things seem… simple and a bit nasty. But your review is a special one and I respect it just like other ones.

**Huy: **Glad you understand and are interested in my story. Good luck with your English.

**Chapter 4: **Gamble

**Unknown's Point of view:**

We fell. It felt weird. I'd never fallen before. That hero, he was weird. He fought _with _me. He didn't run. He didn't try to run away from _me_. He listened to _my _words. A bunch of odd events in one day were new. This river was strange, too. My skin stung when the water touched me. He said we'd probably die. Then death wasn't so terrible. Not so painful, at all. In fact, I wasn't sure if this was death. I couldn't move properly. The water surrounded me. It tried to drown me. Huh. I maybe wasn't able to get out of it but death couldn't catch me that easily. He looked around. His eyes met mine. Weird. His eyes were… glowing? They looked like emerald. Noble soul he had. Fates surly had never treated him nicely. He concentrated on my face. His lips moved. I couldn't understand what he tried to tell me. He swam quickly towards me. I couldn't _move_. Useless. He actually caught my body. Strong. We reached the bank of the river. He passed out.

I started feeling _abnormal_. My throat forced me to gulp. A sensation passed by. I pulsed. Not just my body but also my soul. I shivered lightly. I never had been in these… states? Situations? _Emotions_? No way. I shook him gently.

"Get up."

Even so I knew he wouldn't for quite some time. Too many wounds. Exhaustion. But still, his aura was strong, attracting monsters from everywhere. Still in the water we were. He started to burn. Not good. He had to get out. Maybe I needed to as well.

"Don't die." – I told him, looking around two sides of the river for a clear path.

A request? An order? I didn't want him to give up. Then his body pulsed, too. Just like mine did. I punched the shore and growled. My eyes changed color. With all my strength, I dragged him out of the water and then myself. The filths pointed their weapons towards me. My and his lives they hungered for. They flinched when my eyes blocked into theirs. I saw my reflection in their hollow eyes. My golden orbs glowed. Killing mode was on. I threw the daggers which were tied around my waist by the sash at the skeletons in half a second. They responded. Bad moves. I didn't even bother using my weapons. With bare hands, I took them all. Their blades hit my skin but no cuts were seen. What? I exterminated them all the minute after. How? Not really sure. Then realization hit. I turned to the black river. It looked like I had just become a more hideous monster than I already was.

**Percy's Point of View:**

I hoped I made it. That kid was surly smart enough to save herself and probably me if she cared out of that place. I was paralyzed. My body didn't respond to me which was frustrating. I didn't feel pain at all which was good in this bullshit situation. The power of River Styx indeed had been activated again and the crazy thing was? I had no idea where my Achilles spot was. My concentration was on saving my mysterious partner. So that possibly leaded to her being my anchor. Maybe I should think about this later.

Right now, my surrounding was darkness. There was nothing else and I felt oddly peaceful. I wasn't sure if it was the right time to decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing but I definitely not wanted this to last any longer. The living world was in complete chaos right now and I was doing nothing. At all.

"_Perseus Jackson, you want to save them that desperately? You are indeed a useful pawn of the game, Jackson."_

My mind was filled with that sleepy tone of a woman again. Gaea. I was expecting her and here she came. I guess establishing an "appointment" with her wasn't so difficult.

"Oh, I recall that you did mention that before. A few times to be exact, _Great Granny_." – I replied sarcastically.

I heard a snarl coming from underneath. Huh, it was a gift then. Provoking people was one of my hobbies. It was easy like eating a piece of cake to piss an old, composed person to me.

"Or you might prefer Great Gramps?" – I chuckled under my breath. – "And to your desire, no, I wouldn't satisfy it. I'd like to play another game in this game really. Are you interested?"

"_What are you up to now, son of Poseidon? Whatever it is, it won't save your precious camp and those foolish Olympians. My plan is going well. And you shall watch the world crumble." _– Mother Earth smirked arrogantly and it sent pure rage to my system.

"Yeah yeah, I know that. Sounds like a great scene of a well-organized play but no thank you; I don't want the ticket for that. Too dramatic. I'd prefer something more… simple and intriguing than running around and finding allies, then end up finding out they're traitors." – My use of words were really poor but I hoped I was good _just enough _to make her agree with this.

"_You mean this?" _– asked the Goddess boringly.

_Suddenly, I was standing in the middle of Camp Half-blood. Chaos wasn't the exact word to describe it right now. It was beyond that, an insane and full of despair battlefield. The Romans and Greeks were face-to-face with each other and throwing weapons. Nico was trying in vain to prevent two sides from destroying each other. Annabeth and Clarisse were combat-fighting along with mouth-fighting with Minerva and Bellona's children from Camp Jupiter. Hazel and Frank forced to choose Roman because that was where they belonged. It looked worse than Troy in its last days._

"_Your leader is a coward! He ran away, see? Where is that idiot, show us!" – snarled Jason in mad victory and fury. He was truly the pawn of Zeus._

"_None of your business, brat! He'll be back! He just has a friend to save at the moment, not like you!" – Thalia paid back. Her Hunters had united with Camp Half-blood._

"_You stole the prophecies from our ancient book, mortal!" – cried Octavian._

"_Ask Lord Apollo and he'll tell you the truth, you son of a b*tch!" – Rachel's green eyes were glowing dangerously._

"Enough. I already foresaw this since Juno revealed her plan. That's why I'd prefer two people playing chess over the idea that a bunch of losers struggling for the board game, _Lady_." – I cut off the image in my head, not wanting to see more of _that_.

I tried to secretly-but-not-so-secretly humiliate my friends in front of Gaea. She seemed to catch that detail.

"_Alright son of Poseidon, you caught my interest. What's your game?" _– Her voice was full of doubts but interest at the same time. No-one had ever dared challenging her to a game before.

"Well, I don't want anyone to get involved with this after I speak it out to you, so I want what happens here stays between two of us, and two of us _only_." – I emphasized the word _only_.

"_Huh, no-one really gets involved in my private business before, sea pawn. Just shoot it, I swear on the River of Styx I wouldn't tell anyone about whatever you're talking about."_

That was easier than I expected. Was I being lured to a trap myself? Or maybe I had succeeded attracting her attention towards me? I wasn't sure, but I decided to go for it.

"Alright, as we both know, you don't want your… kids to get hurt right?"

"_Apparently, Jackson. And you had slain lots of them." _– She growled murderously.

"Yeah well, it's you who lets them go on battles. I never want to fight." – I admitted truthfully.

"_I don't CARE! Just get straight to the point." _– She was getting impatient.

"Wa, you're actually paying attention, Granny? I thought you're scared of playing games!" – I decided to strike for a risk.

"_Never in my life have I, the Goddess of Earth, been scared of playing games with the mutts. Spit out the rules, seas spawn! You'll lose anyway; even it's your game!" _– Confidence was clear as crystal in her voice. – _"I've had all the advantages in the current battles and despite the fact that you're trying to create a new one, I'll still hold victory!"_

"Yeah yeah, are you listening to the rules or boasting about your glorious achievements?"

Silence. I decided to take the final step.

"As I said, I want a battle between two of us only. I'd like to have a _little _bet."

"_No-one would give you blessing this time, Jackson. Watch your tongue. Even you've dipped in that River of Styx again, you're not invincible."_

"Thanks for the warning, I feel the love." – I smirked sarcastically. – "That's the point. We'll be on our own. I won't ask blessings from any gods or goddesses, I'll play this game myself. And you won't send anything to attack my friends and Olympus during this battle. That would lower both sides' deaths. You won't see your precious sons and daughters get slain and my friends wouldn't have to be the _heartless _killers who would touch your children! We would… like they say… represent for our side to… reach the final goal, the final stand."

Neither of us spoke after my explanation. The Goddess was considering hard.

"_Sounds like a bright daring idea from a sea pawn like you, Jackson. There must be a reason behind this suicidal strategy but I'll accept your challenge. So only one versus one, is that what you want? No armies no big violence. Simple and quiet."_

"Well, you are truly the mother of everything on this planet." – I smiled bitterly. – "So how long would you want this thing to take?"

"_It would be a big entertainment show before I rule this tainted world so I guess, six months? I want to see those rats live their last half of the year." _– She laughed evilly, admired her own sick scheme.

"Alright, six months, I guess that's like a blink of eye to you huh? So what do you want to bet on? I have an idea of my own right now." – I said smugly. My idea was beyond insane, but it might help me achieve many goals in one row if I made it. Its chance of succeeding was like zero, but I had hope. I trusted in my stubbornness and determination.

"_And I'm really fascinated to hear your golden thoughts, Jackson."_

"Fine then. It's obvious that you want me to suffer and you want it to be tough. Let's see. We both know that you'll let your son, Kronos rule after you win this. In order to regain his real form, he needs… a host. He needed someone to break Tartarus and do those kinds of stuff for him. I volunteer to be his host if I lose this game. But, he has to prove that he's good enough to have me as his host. I'll bear him in my head for six months so that he could look around. If I couldn't get him under control after six months, you win. If he couldn't stand being in me for six months, you would go back to your slumber and never rise again. How's that?"

A laugh rang madly in my ears. She was seeing obvious victory in her palm.

"_Jackson, I remember that your mind is quite sane enough to see what's right and what's wrong, but I guess I was wrong. My son is going to turn you into dirt! Right then, I accept your challenge. Prepare yourself, sea pawn!"_

"We'll see about that, Gaea. You have to swear on the River of Styx not to attack, or hurt, or do anything to anybody during our game, not to send or order anyone to do those dirty things for you, to leave everything in peace while the game happened or you'll vaporize forever."

"_If you swear you won't inform no-one, not even your best friends and your old man about this, also not to attack me during the game and then we'll have a deal." _– She stated sharply.

"Together then, Mother Earth." – I sighed at this. Here we go.

"I, Perseus Jackson, swear on the River of Styx…"

"_I swear on the River of Styx…"_

"…during the game between me and Goddess Gaea…"

"…_while I and Percy Jackson, the Seas Spawn have this bet…"_

"I will not tell or ask for anyone's help…"

"…_no-one, the giants, the titans, all of my allies except Kronos would know about the game…"_

"…or cause any damage to Goddess Gaea during the bet…"

"…_and I shall leave everything in peace in those six months…"_

"…or I would give myself to the Lord of Time."

"…_or my existence will be erased from this universe."_

Thunder boomed loudly from somewhere far away, tearing everything apart. It was the beginning of the end.

**Third's Person Point of View:**

Sea green eyes slowly opened. Percy blinked his eyes rapidly in one second before took in his surrounding again. Good news was he wasn't in the Underworld anymore. He was lying on the grass of somewhere and above him was the night sky. Cool breeze caressed his face soothingly, brought the sweat on his forehead away. The son of Poseidon sat up while running his hand through his messy hair. Then a voice caught his attention:

"My creator's in your head, hero. Or should I say, Perseus?"

**A/N: What do you think? It's really late at night in my place right now and my head isn't so clear. There might be some spelling or grammar mistakes somewhere in this chapter so please forgive me if there are any. I know my idea of this story is kind of impossible and quite unacceptable, but it comes from my imagination so things don't have to make sense at all. Give me some reviews. Thanks for your time, dear readers!**


	5. Monster

A/N: Hooray! My story is on the roll! All thanks to you amazing readers and friends! I can feel the love growing strong rapidly in the air, guys!

I really appreciate **jebbus132, n99chang, Yomamma3, Myth. , serbian broski **and **Blitzing Riptide **for taking interest in my story and giving it a chance! I'll not to let any of you down.

**jebbus132: **Thanks for your comment.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **You've already been warned!

**Blitzing Riptide: **Good news is that you don't have to wait so long!

**huy (Guest):** Wow, you're kind. Sorry for the wait. I didn't expect that you would spend hours waiting for chapter 4! Math homework was such a nightmare and luckily, I got over it.

**AN (Guest): **Aaah, thanks for the love, sis! Of course reading would be more intriguing than listening. Thanks for your support and gorgeous compliments! And yeah, I will chase my dream to become a novelist. Wish me luck! Here's the next chappie!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does!

_This chapter is for those who accept me for who I am._

**Chapter 5: **Monster

**Percy's Point of view:**

"My creator's in your head, hero. Or should I say, Perseus?" – Her musical quiet voice vibrated to my eardrum gently.

We were in the park, near the gate of the Underworld, the one that Nico and I first went to the River of Styx. I blinked at the thought; my heart ached at how disappointed and angry that kid would be when he found out that I betrayed them. It was nearly dawn and the sky was black as Hades' cloak. Trust me; nothing was blacker than my older uncle's outfit. Then, my eyes lied on my new fighting partner. She was sitting on the grass, face-to-face with me. Her blue eyes glowed in the dark, scanning me slowly like a security camera. Then _it _happened. I felt something rising inside me, my mind. I had expected this to happen and my nerves were stretched. Grandpa wouldn't get what he wanted so easily.

"_Perseus Jackson, nice to see you again."_

"Since we're going to… share our shelter for quite some time, I think calling me Percy would be nice, Gramps." – I whispered mockingly, earning a murderous hiss from my own brain.

After that, I felt my body slammed to the ground, the kid pinning me down with her slender but strong arms. Her blue eyes stared straight into mine intensely while she hissed seriously:

"Snap out of it, Percy."

A cold sickish laugh escaped my throat cord, shaking the air. Goose bumps appeared on my skin. What terrified me most was when I saw my own reflection in her mirror-like eyes; I recognized that my orbs were golden, like Luke's in his final days. Kronos laughed in my mind, shifting violently.

"Focus or you'll lose the bet from the beginning." – She commanded me firmly. Wait, how did she know and why wasn't I so surprised? – "He'll take over your mind."

"_Ethan Nakamura was slain by the scythe. Luke Castellan being burned by a deadly aura... Silena Beauregard's broken face staring at the sky soullessly. Monsters slaughtering demi-gods. Screams and destruction around Empire State Building…"_

"KNOCK IT OFF YOU BASTARD!" – I shouted, gripping somebody's torso above me.

I focused on my mother's hugs during my childhood. I recalled the content feeling I had at Montauk, my favorite beach. The intense kiss I had with Annabeth in the lake at that glorious day played in my mind. I clenched my teeth and drowned myself in the guilt that I had when executing the plan, when Bianca di Angelo was dead and how broken and angry Nico was. Then the panic feeling I had earlier in the River of Styx, when I thought my savior was going to die because of me.

"_STOP you F*CKING MONGREL!" _– It was Kronos's turn to break and I smirked in victory.

"You two stop it right now!" – A strong commanding voice hit my ears and I could sense that Kronos was taken surprise by that tone, too.

The kid was putting her hand on my forehead while looking intensely into my eyes which were now green like usual, focusing on something. She seemed to… communicate with my soul? I didn't know, but my brain felt peace.

"Such a mad, risky plan you have, Perseus!" – She punched me square in my cheek and stun washed over my body.

"You let him OUT right NOW!" – She shouted but her face expressed nothing. – "Don't satisfy that JERK or you'll lose it ALL!" – Another fist flew straight to my jaw, making me dizzy.

"Stop…" – but my face kissed the grass because she slammed it to the ground and the kid looked like she was going to break down because of… panic? This girl seemed emotionless to me. But the way she acted proved otherwise. She did care; even she obviously made it clear that she didn't.

"And you, you life RUINER, leave the demi-god ALONE!" – Her voice was filled with… agony? – "I won't let this end up like it did with Ma!"

Did she mean mother?

"YOU-ARE-A-COWARD!" – Her knuckles crashed into my jaw flawlessly, unfortunately for me. – "Such a SHAME of all things exist, you OLD PATHETIC TITAN!"

This time, I used all my energy to catch her arm, which made both of us crumble to the ground.

"Calm down, kid. He's not taking over, at least for now! It's me, and I'm fine!"

She stopped struggling, narrowing her eyes to see if it was Kronos who spoke. But then she tilted her head lightly and squeezed my hand.

"Why did you do this?"

"How do you know about the bet?"

"You know the answer."

"Not really. I want to hear it from the judge, and that's you in this case."

"The oath is safe. Don't worry." – She mumbled quietly and glanced at me again.

"Please give me a clear answer. My brain is poor." – I told her firmly with arms akimbo. I must have looked dumb.

Her blue eyes observed my whole body like it was the most interesting sculpture in an exhibition. It was when I realized that all my energy was nowhere to be found.

"Come on; let's get you to… _real _water." – The kid looked around carefully.

I was about to open my mouth to demand for explanations but she cut me off:

"Then we'll feed your brain."

I grinned goofily and said:

"Jeez, thanks. But no, I don't think being in water is a good idea right now. I have to cut all ties with my family and friends. You already know the whole game, right?"

A shiver shook my stomach, making me feel like marshmallow. I didn't expect a single person to know anything about this and here this kid was, witnessed everything. But she was a mystery herself and I guess it was fair enough if I wanted to know hers when she already knew mine.

"Yes." – And… she was back. – "So how do you plan to fix yourself up?"

"Well, actually we are both healed right now since we had survived that river earlier. The problem is our clothes. We just need to something clean to wear, and of course, good enough." – I informed the fact to her.

"It's what you're wearing but without blood and the cuts, right?" – She asked and I dropped my jaw.

Then I paid attention to her outfit again. All black, her torso was covered inside a long cloak, black dress, black stockings, and black snickers. I had a feeling that she had been wearing this outfit for a really long time but I knew better than asking that question.

"Well, it would be nice if you wear normal clothes like jeans, T-shirt and jacket, things like that."

"So where are things like that?" – I had a feeling that she would ask a lot of questions like that.

"In the shops in the streets, people sell those things." – My answer was dumb. – "But demi-gods I mean, people like us don't have mortal money."

She was thoughtful for a minute and an indescribable expression appeared on her face. I stuttered:

"Sorry… I don't…"

"No, you're right. Not a demi-god, a monster." – Her voice was monotone.

"That's not true!" – I protested immediately. – "I don't care, okay? And…"

"You know who my creator is." – She gave me an intense stare.

"So what? Well, I might be a monster myself since my dad brings destruction all the time! I don't give a HELLISH concern about Kronos is your FREAKING creator!"

Her gaze became lighter and she seemed to wait for me to let out the last important part.

"So since you confirm that information, you're a half titan half…"

"Mortal." – Finished my sentence. – "Let's make ourselves look _normal_. Don't waste more time. We need a plan."

"Wait, what's your name?"

"Not your business." – It was what I hated to hear most.

"Hey, you saved my ass so yeah, it's my concern!" – I shouted loudly, my voice could be heard from miles away.

"A monster doesn't deserve one." – With that, she turned and dragged me by the hand. – "We go, now."

"Hey, but we're not done _yet_!" – I exclaimed.

"I believe we are."

"We're NOT!"

"We are." – still that calm, composed tone.

"WE'RE NOT!"

"We _are_." – Her voice was sharper, but emotionless.

"WE. ARE. NOT!"

"We _**are.**_" – She emphasized the word are, dragging me faster.

"Definitely NOT, KID!"

"We _**ARE**_!" – Her voice was filled of authority. – "And if you want some answers, keep QUIET!"

**A/N: A short one in the middle of the week. I hope you guys like it. Send me some reviews. I need motivations! Maybe 10 reviews this time until next chapter (not from "AN" and "huy", you two don't count)? I believe I'm not asking too much. **


	6. Dramatic past and tragic future

A/N: It seems like despite being short, chapter 5 has received lots of love from you wonderful readers and for that, I'm deeply grateful.

Hugs for **MysteriousWaysOfLife, elephantedeli, combinemanc **and** gamerkid137 **for giving my story your time!

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **Thanks for still reading my story even though it's quite illogical but I really can't help it. And you're right; Percy would have a hard time with this new kid. Enjoy the new chapter!

**Silent Phantom gal: **Thanks for your comment. You'll find out soon enough why the new girl didn't give Percy her name. Hope you'll like this chapter.

**AN: **Well, it's not so weird that Huy spends time reading my story. He's my friend anyway, just like you and I guess you both don't want to upset me. I'm not forcing anyone in our class to read my story nor to send me reviews. I'm just glad that you guys respect me enough to spend a little time for my lousy imagination. It's good to know that I'm no longer the only freak.

**Huy: **Next time don't risk your luck sending me reviews at the holy time of 12 am, okay? As much as I'm glad that you like my story enough to do something like that, I don't approve your way of showing it. Thanks for the praise. You guys really know how to flatter me.

**DoubleInfinity99 (Amber Wood **aka **Kamela)**: Thanks for your review. And you guys have to stop flattering me. Or at least please don't do this in public. About the "I don't like you" or "I hate you!" stuff, no-one can help it. There's not denial that you're a much better… person than I am, in both dimensions, you know what I mean. And for being human, it's a shame for me to admit that I envy you sometimes and trust me, every single second of my existence, I have to struggle to prevent myself from acting like a kid or should I say, rebellious teenager. Anyway, if you think my story's interesting then it's such an honor for me!

_To Alabaster, who only sees the good side of me, none of the bad._

**Chapter 6: **Dramatic past and tragic future

**Percy's Point of View:**

The kid and I were standing near a clothes shop. After waiting for the mortals to wake up from their peaceful sleep, we or to be more exact, she had decided that we needed proper outfit. I would remember the conversation we had just had earlier to the rest of my existence.

* * *

_Flashback:_

"**Perseus…"**

"**Please, call me Percy. I don't like being called Perseus. I'm nothing like that son of Zeus and I really don't want to be like that name." – If I had received money every time I told people this sentence, I would have become a really rich person by now.**

"**Percy, what should I know before getting the clothes from that place?" – She asked me, eyeing our target carefully like it could bite us.**

"**Well, I think you seriously should try to not…"**

"**Kill them?" – She cut me off, still staring at the little shop.**

"**Yes, that's right." – There were some reasons that I couldn't get mad when she interrupted me. – "Okay, so you need to be careful with the security cameras and the shopkeepers."**

**This time, her glowing blue orbs turned to me and asked slowly:**

"**Do you mind telling me what security cameras and shopkeepers are?"**

**Huh? – I asked myself mentally then quickly composed myself from confusion. Of course, I doubted that she had ever left that hell hole before.**

"**Right…" – Finding good words to explain to her was quite hard for me, especially I wasn't a child of Athena. – "Security cameras are the devices that people use to look after their properties and stuff like that. They could… see everything really. Shopkeepers are the people who in-charges the shops."**

**I waited for her respond. Her face showed nothing at all, which had been quite frustrating sometimes. I couldn't be sure if she was fine with me or not. Her features were somewhat informing me that she was processing my words. Were they **_**that**_** difficult to digest?**

"**So technically, if I want to steal some clothes from that place, I have to knock out those… objects?"**

**So she didn't really understand me after all. At least she got the important detail that they would be her problems in order to execute our plan. I decided to do this the simple way like I always loved to.**

"**Yes, you got that right."**

"**And since the shopkeepers are mortals, you want them alive, right?"**

"**Well, that's correct."**

"**I'll do this. You stay here. Give me a second." – With that, her strange eyes scanned my whole body again, this time really intensely.**

**I shifted on my spot uncomfortably, waiting for her to finish. I had no idea why she was doing that.**

"**Sorry." – She spoke, catching my gaze.**

"**Oh, don't mind me. Do you really know what you're going to do?"**

"**Yes." – came the short reply. Then her hands moved to the sash around her waist and the sparkling light coming from the daggers hit my eyes.**

"**No, don't use those." – I immediately objected. I had a feeling that her weapons could also kill mortals too since the metal looked really odd.**

"**How about punching?"**

"**Mortals won't survive that." – I chuckled. I had the curse of Achilles and her fists weren't so pleasant against my skin. My instinct gave me a clear vision that her hand would go right through mere humans' flesh even she used average force.**

"**I'll go with you; that's for the best." – I stated firmly, not taking "no" for an answer.**

"**Bad idea." – Okay, I didn't expect that kind of respond.**

"**I know what I'm doing, just as sure as you are. Give me some credits. I know this world better than you do."**

"**Also attracting troubles you're excellent at." – Ouch, that hurt, a lot. – "How's this, I'm going in, you'll stand close by to see if there is anything you don't like."**

**She made me feel like some kind of bully, or criminal. I wasn't her boss or something! Or perhaps was I making her feel like I was? But it was the best option I could get so I sighed:**

"**I guess that's the finest I could get. Use this." – I picked up a metal trash can lid nearby. With her steady arm, it was solid enough to knock mortals unconscious.**

**She seemed to get my idea and took the thing from me.**

* * *

_End of flashback:_

The heist went pretty well. Actually, it was unbelievably successful. The shopkeepers survived and for the first time, I had decent clothes to wear. I had pestered the kid with my questions about how she deactivated the cameras and afterwards got the answer from the sight of daggers pinning on the walls with broken wires swinging in the air. Right now, she looked much… friendlier than before: comfortable tanned blue jeans, not so tight, black wool sweater with V-collar with black jacket and brown snickers. When we were walking on a pavement, I had managed to smuggle a black hair band for her from a peddled-wares stand. And mine was surprisingly fit. I had figured out the meaning of her intense stare before. She had measured my body to pick the right size. My taste of fashion was somehow noticed by this keen "spooky" kid: light blue top, navy blue jacket, dark blue jeans and black snickers. Now we were sitting on a bench in the park, no longer looked like street kids but normal teenagers. Finally, it was breakfast for my brain. It really needed to be fed with information right now.

"So where do you want to start, my lady?" – I asked her politely with a small sincere smile. I silently hoped that it would help just a little to get her out of her thick shell.

"I think you yourself know more than I do." – Came the unexpected answer. – "After coming out of the river, I could feel my creator in your head."

"How?" – The question automatically shot out.

Her face turned to me. Now the sunlight had reached everything on Earth, I finally had the chance to observe her clearly. Being in that place for so long, her skin was demonic pale and when the sunlight brushed it, she looked somewhat like a living fantasy. Her eyes looked exactly like shining sapphire in the golden light, an indescribable profound beauty. Her lips formed into a thin line and her features hardened like she was focus on something really hard. Then my brain was hit with a surge of blankness. I couldn't explain what kind of emotion that was, but it was utterly… void. Everything, happiness, sadness, anger, regrets, fear, determination, embarrassment, hatred and also love was swept away gently. Nothing mattered. But there was a hint of something else growing, similar to curiosity, the desire to know and experience. Was that how she felt all the time? My souls shook inside me, making me dizzy. What? Then a vision darted through my mind, deadly fast like lightning tearing the sky apart, but I caught every single detail:

"_A little figure was running passed an atrocious dungeon. The air was sulked with despair. The figure shivered violently and looked around with wide dull blue eyes._

'_Little one, KILL them ALL for me! Make your daddy proud!' – An evil voice rang shook the air._

'_But Ma wants…'_

'_You're my DAUGHTER; you'll do what I say! That woman no longer exists!'_

_Fury rose in the little figure, blue orbs turned amber._

'_FINE, I'll kill, it would be YOU who I kill, BASTARD!'"_

I went back to reality. The sun was still shining and all the despair melted. Her eyes bored into mine, waiting for my reaction. My jaw dropped and I picked it up quickly.

"I'm…"

"No need for pity. You've got your answer. Next one." – She replied like nothing had happened. I didn't want to push the subject so I nodded hard.

"You know if the answers involve what you don't want to remember, we can just pass them." – I informed her.

"You need to escape the trouble you've created. You need answers. Go ahead."

I considered cautiously, not wanting to become a jerk. Maybe I should ask about her first.

"So you're… fourteen?"

She titled her head; her brown bangs covered her forehead. Did I ask a rude question? But based on what she showed me, she wouldn't care though.

"Minus a year."

So she was at age thirteen. I shook my head sadly, I was definitely luckier than many people. A pang of self-ashamed and sadness washed over me. She took a deep breath and again, hit me lightly on the shoulder:

"The worst luck of the universe belongs to you, Percy."

It was nice hearing her using my name. I asked:

"Since you know the whole thing, I think you should…"

"I swear on the River of Styx the gamble between Gaea, the mother of the biggest bastard and Perseus Jackson, the dumbest demi-god would be safe inside my mind and only be revealed when Percy allows it to be."

Thunder shook the bright sky. The sound of it wasn't so horrible. She actually did it, without thinking. Even she wasn't the kind of kid who loved jokes; she did use quite hilarious words when swearing.

"I want to bring down my creator. I'm in."

"But…" – I protested. Help wasn't allowed in the game.

"You only swore that you won't _ask _for anyone's help, not _accepting _help. I'm offering it to you, and all you have to do is allow me to." – She told me the flaw of my oath. – "Besides, I'm not really helping you to win the game; I just simply want to show him I'm not anybody's pawn."

I didn't really believe her though. In order to bring down her father, she would risk her life for _me_? There was more than just hatred. She didn't realize. I told her:

"There's no turning back. You will get involved with the Olympians and almost all the demi-gods! It…"

"I will be hunted, badly. Doesn't that what happens to people like us since the beginning until the end of our existence? We fight, we die?" – She asked solemnly, it certainly didn't bother her at all. I really had to practice getting used to this ugly truth.

"Okay then, I accept your offer. Now we get to one of the most important issues." – I closed my eyes, hoping it would end soon.

She observed me plainly, waiting patiently for the next part while I had trouble finding my voice. She went first:

"I have a question of myself, too."

"Shoot, kid." – I reacted naturally to this. Very few people asked politely when they wanted me to answer their questions. But the way I responded to those courteous words weren't so nice.

"What does that river do, exactly? The one with _unreal _water back there when we were out?"

The burden on my shoulder was lifted for a second, allowing a small laugh to escape my throat. Back then, I told her I needed _real _water, not the one in the River of Styx.

"That river is sacred. People bathe in it and survive will become nearly invincible. Most people would turn into ash or something similar to that when their skin meets the water. But we survived, luckily. But like I said, we're only _near__ly _invincible, not completely. We will have a spot that ties us to this world. It's the anchor that keeps us alive, the will to stay in this world. Without it, we won't make it out the river. If our enemies stab that spot, we'll die. It's like killing our purposes of life." – I explained to her confidently. I didn't feel dumb at this topic.

"So right now, we are both almost undefeatable. And each of us has a mortal spot."

"Yes, you grasped it." – I nodded thoughtfully. – "But I didn't have enough time to define where that spot is."

Silence. Her body tensed, deadly tensed.

"You don't know."

"Do you know?"

"A moment." – She spoke softly and deadly quietly. Uh-oh.

My eyes glued on her serious expression. As much as I wanted to bombard her with my questions, I tried my best to keep them inside.

"Back then, you wanted to talk about an important issue involving your game. Your mind was a mess. Whatever you were going to talk about isn't something you like. A plan of some sort. Think of it again, full focus and stare straight into my eyes as if you want to send it through eye contact. Do it."

It wasn't the strangest request but it was strange. I forced myself to look into those flawless blue gem-like eyes. It hurt that she wasn't Annabeth. I wanted to share my deepest secret with her even knowing that she would judge me. This girl, she would never do that. I tried to picture the scenes from my memories and turned them into fragments of what would happen.

"_My eyes, glowing amber, evil smirk stretch on my lips. I set the cabins on fire in Camp Half-blood."_

The thought powered my grandfather up, making him out of his little trance from earlier because of me inserting "sickish" emotions into his mind. I felt Kronos stirred inside me, gathering power from the ugly scene. He grumbled something. More focus. I clenched my fist, determination rose.

"_I, stood in the middle of Greeks and Romans demi-gods, was laughing like a psycho person. I drowned all of them in water."_

Right after, guilt took control. The Lord of Time hissed furiously, going back to his trance.

"_I ran away from camp, forged a normal life. The gods and my friends tried to track me down for the crime I committed. My parents were disappointed."_

"_I cried out in pain as Kronos was out of control. My body was slammed onto the cold ground as my hands covered my head desperately."_

"_Annabeth was hurt and angry at me. She agreed with Athena to end our relationship and helped camp tracking me down. The dagger Luke gave her was ready to stab me in the heart."_

"_Thalia and her huntresses searched for me in every corner. Her electric blue eyes were sparkling with murderous attempts. She wanted the traitor dead and he shall be dead."_

"Enough, Percy." – A strong commanding voice brought me back to the living world.

But then a crazy laugh of agony was forced out of my lips. NO!

"_Your predictions are more accurate than the Oracle's herself, Perseus Jackson. You shall die a painful death when your little family and friends turn their backs on you. Just give up already and join me._

My fear had given the old man opportunity to gain control.

"_I was killing Grover. His eyes begged me to come back to myself while a horrible scream escaped his throat. Other satyrs tried in vain to slay my head off."_

I was no longer sitting on the bench but rolling mindlessly on the grass. Immediately, a figure steadied me on the grass violently with a push. I grasped for air when another scene came by.

"_Annabeth's grey eyes burnt with fire of hatred haunted my mind. As she sent the dagger towards my neck, I smirked arrogantly as I dodged it; I threw a deadly blow at her stomach. The blade slashed through her body, blood dripping unstop from my mouth."_

"HEY you COWARD, just leave him alone!" – My scalp met the rough surface of something. A big "BANG!" noise was heard.

A force made my hands wrapped around her torso and gripped it _hard_. Then something else interrupted the series of images that Kronos was showing me. Pure hatred and fighting determination swallowed my mind as it attacked Kronos's mental shield non-stop. WHAT?

"SNAP OUT OF IT, PERCY!" – My jaw warned me I would need to see the dentist soon.

Another surge of indefinite feeling, the void made its way into my mind. My head screamed for release as it was torn into pieces. I opened my mouth while my lungs demanded for oxygen. My legs tried to move but then they were pinned on the ground by something. Kronos growled madly in my mind as he tried to fight the void. The fight of three was going nowhere. That voice again:

"PERCY, LET ME IN! THIS JERK NEEDS A PROPER LESSON!"

My skull hit the soft grass hard making me wanted to lie on a bed for weeks. I wanted OUT! There were flashes as if I was in the cinema but the projector couldn't project the images to the screen. I let everything lose, lessened my mind-struggling and the urge of kicking-ass immediately found its way into the center of my very soul. My life force was escaping from my reach as I slowly dripped away to an unknown place. But then, something held me back.

"YOUR FRIENDS NEED YOU, IDIOT! DON'T GIVE IN!"

Somebody's knuckles hit my lips and my eyes popped open, meeting blue eyes which were now on fire. That unspoken agony filled my soul again. That short moment, I saw short parts of her life. She had no name. No-one bothered giving her one. She deserved one. A word that deserved her. At the end of that short moment, I heard a warm laugh brushed my eardrum gently. A motherly laugh coming from a woman with deep blue eyes and pretty smile. An image of own mom, Sally Jackson entered my mind. Sanity fully came back to me and I faced the real world.

Still keeping me steady her hands were and my mind was healing. She looked straight into my eyes and did that again, the feeling of nothing. All ties were cut. I lied motionlessly and breathed heavily as she stared at me for reactions. Kronos was back to his trance and I was in peace once again for now. It was going to be nasty. Now I had known my mortal spot. The enemies could stab me, hit me, poison me as much as they liked and none of that would work. I reached for her cheeks and she didn't stop me. I hated myself, for ruining this kid's life. My shivering fingers caressed her small face and my hoarse voice whispered:

"I'm sorry it turns out this way, Plasma."

"No need to…" – Then she was quiet, looking at me with confusion. After two long minutes, time froze. It really did stop. She found her voice, stammered:

"Plas..ma?"

"Do you like it? As your name?"

"Monsters don't have…"

"You. Are. Not. A. Monster." – I emphasized every word firmly, gripping her arm which was still pinning me down. She loosened the grip and we stood up. Her height was advanced for her age, but still she was shorter than me. Her eyes looked up hesitantly.

"Plasma's… fine." – She suddenly found her shoes interesting.

I beamed sincerely at her. She would figure out the meaning behind that name soon. It suited her well, and for my poor brain, it was the best I could come up with. It sounded simple but meaningful.

"Plasma's cool." – She stated her comment again, emotionlessly again.

"Hi, I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. May I know your name?" – I held my hand out, waiting for her respond.

She raised her eyebrow in wonder and I gave her a reassuring smile. We both needed this. We needed to know who the hell we were. She didn't smile, which was expected. But her eyes were sincere. Holding out her hand, she shook mine along with squeezing it in a friendly way:

"It's such an honor to meet you, Percy. My name's Plasma Knight, daughter of Sapphire Knight."

"So… friends we are?" – I asked, not sure if she would say "yes".

Plasma gave me a serious thoughtful face, rendered me breathless. Then she glanced at me, giving me a light punch in the chest:

"Friends." – And that was the typical Plasma. – "Now let's win _your_ game."

**A/N: Okay, the end of a long chapter! I didn't expect it to be this long! I've done my job and now it's your turn, guys! Send me some reviews! Make me feel the love, folks! This time, I definitely demand for 10 reviews! (Not from AN, Huy and DoubleInfinity99!)**


	7. Showtime

A/N: Chapter 6 wasn't so successful, which is a shame. Ah well, I can't expect too much. It had been a hellish week and I guess I need to throw all the rubbish out my brain now.

Thanks to **vnienhuis, Daughter of King Orrin, Neurele, Kail990** and** Zayad** for favoring and following my story. It means a lot.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **Everything takes time you know. Don't be bothered by the little detail. They just make the story longer, nothing important. Percy named that kid Plasma because he saw certain traits and features of her which were the same as the gem Plasma. It's just a silly idea. About their mortal spot, yes, it's complicated. I just want to make it different and special. You'll see there are very interesting advantages of their anchors and also really depressing disadvantages. After all, everything has two sides. The coolest thing is that their mortal spots aren't visible. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter even though it might be really bad since I'm not in the mood.

**Huy: **Thanks for your time. I bet that you really enjoy your time reading, don't you? Just don't be obsessed by it.

**DoubleInfinity99: **So now you've joined the reading club, huh? Well, that's cool. And also, I can't help myself with that childish jealousy so just deal with it. I understand that your life isn't something nice but just try to cherish it. You'll miss it when you have a new one. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.

**AN: **Jeez, thanks. It's good to know that you'll let me live until I finish the exam. I hope you're fine with the tests. So it's time to knock your curiosity out.

**Troy: **Oh hey there, I didn't expect that you still remember me. I guess my effort trying to fit in back there failed miserably, huh? Sorry about the stares you received from the villagers, they're just… amazed. Thanks for spending your time reading my story, that's very kind of you. About coffee, I'd love to go, but I'm in the middle of an exam so I don't think it's possible. Maybe we can meet on January 1st. Here's the next chapter.

**DarkKnight **(Guest)**: **Thanks for leaving me your review. It's like gold.

_To my outstanding partner, Alistair, who sacrificed your time for me._

**Chapter 7: **Showtime

**Percy's Point of View:**

I was really glad that I bore the curse of Achilles or my muscles would be screaming by now. Ever since we formed a specific plan, Plasma and I had been training like two crazy… machines. By her calculation, we'd reach camp in two hours and it would be the beginning of drama. When this mad idea flared up in my mind, I'd tried to come up with some solutions to trick my friends into thinking that I betrayed them. Well, it was easy throwing trust away since earning it was so difficult. But somehow, I couldn't bring myself into executing it. Maybe I was selfish?

"Percy, do you want a punch?" – Plasma's plain voice broke my train of thoughts.

"Oh, why, may I ask?" – My eyes widened and looked at her curiously.

We were walking through a field somewhere, but my young companion was sure that the scent of strawberries was already flying around so we were on the right way.

"Those thoughts need to be thrown out of your mind."

"Seriously Plasma, are you sure you're not a mind reader?" – I scolded playfully.

"That emotion of yours is strong and we're connected." – Replied her thoughtfully. – "Whatever that is, I don't enjoy having it. According to your colorful language, it's…"

"Crap?" – Chuckle escaped my lips while I finished her sentence. My Achilles spot was hidden inside her, which was quite frightening, but really irrevocably extraordinary.

She nodded, tilted her head slightly. Plasma was trying to learn to be normal, but she was far from normal. A surge of wonder crossed my _soul_ and I automatically said:

"We won't be staying in camp for long so you don't need to worry. I'll come up with a fake name for you, but whatever it is, it's not important. So we're going to be…"

"Not good." – She cut me off.

"Huh, how so?"

But she hushed me and we both looked around cautiously. _Monster_. My eyes scanned the area but it was damn hard to see anything clearly. We travelled at night, so there wouldn't be many people around. It also gave us advantage to train our powers without hurting any creatures since they were in their slumber at night. But the great disadvantage was it was easier for monsters to finish us off. Plasma's back met mine, her sapphire-like eyes moved slowly. She whispered but loud enough for me to hear:

"Monster with multiple heads."

God damn it, how the Hades could it reform so quickly? _Hydra_.

"Plasma, whatever you do, don't slay any of its heads, it would grow more."

"Thanks for the tip."

"Where…?"

"Near, I can see it, but it's still tracking us down." – She mumbled under her breath, and it got harder to listen to what she was saying.

"How can you see it?"

"Tartarus is darker than here." – came the depressing respond but her tone made it sound like "Night is darker than day".

"What's the strategy?" – I asked, even knowing that she wasn't my Annabeth.

"We fight." – short reply, as always, but to me and to her, it was more than enough.

A roar shook the air, and fire flew helter-skelter. Plasma was like lightning, moving fast like a squirrel. I dodged the fire gracefully, due to the Achilles spot and probably many training years, too. We avoided its head and slashed our swords towards it. Water were constantly formed from my hands and fought against the fire. ADHD urged me to do something crazy, but I ignored it and focused on thinking.

"Don't underestimate them!"

"WHAT?" – I shouted back.

"YOUR INSTINCTS!" – She was the opposite of my Wise Girl. But that didn't mean she was dumb, like me.

Maybe she was right, because my numb brain couldn't make out any ways to solve this f*cking monster. I jumped like a kangaroo, avoiding the heads and Plasma from nowhere supported me by pushing my whole torso behind the Hydra smoothly. A head blocked my way but Plasma threw a dagger towards its eye and I successfully landed behind its tail few yards away.

"How about burning it?" – She asked me.

"It'd be a great idea if you can do it!"

The worst thing? It started spitting acid, but luckily, the curse shielded us from being grilled.

"LET GO of your thoughts! Let ADHD IN!"

Should I do that? Annabeth wouldn't be pleased if she was here, witnessing this. I smiled at the image her calling me Seaweed Brain and telling me I was such a reckless fighter. Something hard like a bullet hit my scalp and I groaned startled. My body wasn't used to Plasma's fists. How could I daydream about Annabeth when Plasma and I was in danger? I had no idea.

"We need fire, Percy!"

Even with the Achilles curse, I was still useless. I was a son of Poseidon; I only had powers over water, not fire. A sharp knife of desperation crumbled on me, making me angry. The ground responded to my horrible emotion and I felt our feet weren't stable on the surface of dirt any more. Plasma's eyes widened witnessing the whole crap situation. But to my surprise, her face brightened in the dark of night, she said:

"Keep doing that!"

I didn't understand. Earthquakes couldn't kill monsters, could them? Then I remembered it, there was fire underground, but in the depth that I couldn't reach.

"Fire's too deep down there, I can't reach it!"

"You can't, but _we _can! Follow me!" - I felt like her strong hand crushed mine when she leaded the way.

This time, I listened to her, letting my ADHD control the whole thing. Magically, my brain was still clear, not totally numb when it happened. I could still aware of where we were going, what the hell was happening and how we could make it. I increased my running speed, caught up with Plasma. It was funny that I could still have a silly thought like we could beat all the runners on this planet during this battle. The kid threw me a warning glance, bringing me back to reality. The Hydra was behind us, but the distance grew wide. It was pissing me off that I couldn't behead it like I could to other monsters.

"There!" – She pointed to a huge fat tree a few meters away and we darted to it. I realized the strawberries field in sight.

The warm emotions filled my body, camp Half-blood was near. Without much effort, I picked Plasma up, she wasn't too light, but not heavy and I climbed the tree in half a second. The Hydra was making its way towards us and I seriously hoped that it would work.

"Prepare yourself, Percy! Give me that emotion of… anger?"

"Yeah that's right, kid!" – replied, forcing myself to focus on the moment Jason shouting at me, insulting my Greek family.

Then I felt Plasma inside. My anger was tripled, how could she do that?

"MORE!"

What was more irritating? My memories were all searched. That was it, first time I arrived at Camp, when mom was abducted! The feeling I had when she was vaporized into a shower of gold lights! A growl escaped my thoughts, my brain shot me a warning but I simply ignored it.

"Hold yourself together!"

The connection was weakened and I immediately got worried. Was something…? But then, I stumbled forward when a force of anger landed on the surface of soul. I gathered everything and knitted them together in one forth second with Plasma holding my torso in her arms, nearly smashed it. An explosion didn't deserve to be the right word to describe what happened. The ground shattered like glass being broken and then came an ear-tearing sound. My closed eyes opened a bit to see the scene that I and this little girl had created. The internal force blew up the dirt and lava overflowed onto the surface. The rough skin of the ugly Hydra was destroyed and before it was completely swallowed by the hot lava, it disappeared into golden dust. I was panting while supporting Plasma to get down but obviously she didn't need it. Our feet met the grass around the ancient tree and again, I let her in. That empty feeling conquered me and I created an ice-road solid and thick enough for us to walk on while the lava was still flowing around. During the past few days, I had mastered my powers with water thanks to Plasma lecturing me after I told her the basic things about emotions and how they worked. With me now, doing things with water was like a piece of cake, but the earthquake thing was completely draining and I had 100% sure that Plasma would be working on this in near future. The next thing I knew? We managed to drag ourselves through the camp barriers and our bodies hit the soft grass.

**Nico's Point of View:**

I'd been waiting for Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and technically, my cousin or perhaps brother to set his foot through the gate of camp. I couldn't believe that he dumped camp just to get my ass out of that damn jar. When I got back to the "crime scene", the only thing left behind was his war spoils, some pieces of clothes from one of those disgusting giants and the rest was pieces of the other's body. I had a bad feeling but still I got back to camp because I promised Chiron and Annabeth to get back right after I checked if Percy was still around that place. After that day, I'd been staying in camp reluctantly, waiting for Percy to show up so that I can thank him and then knock some senses into his mind. And define waiting for him was every hour I would stand near Thalia's pine near the gate and stared at it for 10 minutes before doing something else. I couldn't describe how relief and grateful I was when I recognized that I was no longer in that thing. Percy really took care of the smallest thing. I wished selfishly sometimes he was actually my sibling, but really, I couldn't ask for more. He'd always treated me like one, and he didn't care about the fact that I was a son of Hades. Right now it was one a.m. but I still got out of my cabin and checked. When I nearly reached it I could feel the presence of fire in the air like there was a huge fire had been set. What happened out there? I ran towards the gate and I knew that I wouldn't regret about this guarding-dog-program-every-one-hour thing. There were two figures lying on the grass. I held my breath as I got closer to them and I saw Percy and another strange girl. Knowing that I couldn't get them into the infirmary by myself, I ran in to call Chiron for help.

**************************** Line break ************************************

The hardest part was quite ridiculous. Getting both of them into the infirmary wasn't so hard; especially Percy was unconscious and couldn't move while the other girl wasn't heavy at all. Separating them was the challenge. Annabeth's face was priceless; I hoped the Stolls had taken a picture of that. When Chiron said we needed them to be apart so that he could heal each of them, we began "untie" their hold on each other. Percy wrapped his arms around the kids' little torso protectively and unbelievably tightly while his chin rested on her smooth brown hair. When I touched her hair, I couldn't imagine any silk more smoother. But she didn't possess the beauty of an Aphrodite kid so no-one could say anything. The kid was like Percy, arms around Percy's torso but her head buried in his clothes. Her stunning strong legs shielded Percy's so his legs were rested firmly between hers. It looked like they had just got a bloody battle and actually, they did. When people Katie Gardener went out to see if there was anything unusual, we immediately received a scream and went out to see lava flowing on the ground! How Percy did that, we really didn't want to find out. But the best thing was Jason's face when he saw the destruction of the field, he looked like he was about to cry and then his face changed into a funny color of red. Everyone was hoping to hear the exact story when Percy woke up.

Other good news was that there were no injuries, both of them and Chiron announced that Percy had taken the curse of Achilles once again. That made everyone stunned and I was both surprised and relieved. Surprised that he even went into that acidly river again and relieved that he had regained his invincibility. It would be useful in the battle against… Another thing that drove everyone insane in just one morning of the day was that the new girl, she had also bore the curse of River Styx, too and we wondered if that was the reason Percy brought her here, that he didn't want her to be on the bad side. Chiron, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank and I stayed with Percy and the new kid; we wanted to see the son of Poseidon opened his eyes.

It was about eight a.m. when we heard a really low groan coming from the newbie. Annabeth prepared herself like she was going on a fight. Everyone paid attention to the lying figures in the room. Suddenly the girl sat up or more likely bolted up and hissed:

"Percy, GET UP!"

"Hey hey girl, easy there, that's not going to help!" – I quickly protested, approached her.

"Stay away, he's unconscious!" – objected Annabeth, she darted to the new girl.

"Child, calm down. Percy needs to rest and he'll be fine." – said Chiron kindly.

But before anyone could reach her, she turned her head to see us. That was when all of us froze. Her eyes were… blue, _very _blue, pure blue, not the kind of blue that Zeus and his kids' eyes had, it was certainly kinder, full of mystery, and the depth of those eyes seemed to drag our souls into them. She wasn't gorgeous, or breath-taking like Aphrodite girls, but undeniable that she was pretty. Maybe her face had an expression that clearly said: "Stay away!" so she didn't look good. Then she did something that none of us expected, she punched Percy in the face and said:

"Get up now Percy, nobody's going to win the war for you!"

That was it, one of us definitely needed to keep her away from… Suddenly, Percy stirred and his eyes slowly opened. After that, he was completely still and the temperature in the infirmary seemed to drop really fast. We held our breath and stared hopefully at the son of Poseidon. All in a sudden, Percy jumped out of the bed like it was trying to eat him and scanned the room quickly. The next thing we knew was he hugged the new girl like there was no tomorrow.

"Kid, you did more than great! I don't know what I would do without you!"

"You'd have survived anyway." – She shrugged, then hesitantly, returned the hug by wrapped her arms awkwardly around him.

"You're too modest, kid!" – He shook his head and beamed lightly, looking at the kid with awe and clear admiration.

Then Percy turned to us, the happy expression vanished quickly like it never happened, making us nervous. He spoke:

"I hope you're okay, Nico. How was the trip?"

I didn't prepare myself for this, which was weird since I was the one who expected him to be back the most.

"Mrs. O'Leary brought me back. She said that you rescued me, but you can't go back. Chiron healed me. And Kelp Head, I was WORRIED to death!"

He nodded his head, turning to Chiron and thanked him for healing me. Then Annabeth crashed into Percy's arms and shouted:

"How could you DO THAT to me, SEAWEED BRAIN? Eight months being missing weren't enough to scare the Hades out of us?"

"I'm so sorry, Wise Girl. I beg for differ, but many people need my help out there and I believe that your wisdom and bravery could help you through this hard time. I guess sorry isn't enough, maybe I'll make it up to you some time." – He caressed her blonde hair, hugging back.

"I don't CARE, you're not leaving again!" – Annabeth growled her mad eyes looked straight into Percy's forcing him to promise.

"I can't guarantee that, Annabeth. I truly can't, I wish you can understand." – said Percy soothingly, gently.

We were really shocked that the way Percy talked and spoke was impossibly polite and utterly _mature_. What happened here? Annabeth kept attacking Percy with her grip, like she would never let go. Poor both of them, the gods made their lives so difficult.

"Child, I'm really glad you're back. We were really worried for the past two weeks. It's unbelievable that Gaea didn't attack." – Chiron cut the mushy moment by reminding us his presence in the room. Percy smiled in relief at this.

"I guess she's bothering someone else at the moment, Chiron."

"Yeah, and Percy, how come there's lava outside the strawberries field?" – Hazel shot the question that we really wanted to know.

Percy was speechless at this question, his eyes glued on the new girl. She returned the stare by a nod, like they were having a silence conversation and that somehow really frustrating.

"It was an accident." – said the girl calmly, she looked straight into the eyes of everyone the room.

"That's understandable, child. You don't want to talk about it. How about giving us your name, my dear?" – Chiron asked, and this time, the newbie frowned at the question.

"Her name is… err…" – Percy raised his eyebrow, looking confused. What?

"Her name is err?"- I chuckled at his stammering.

"Sorry, sir, my name is Pearl. Pearl McKnight." – She replied quickly, earning a satisfied smile from Percy.

"Okay Pearl, maybe you should travel around to see camp. There are a lot of things to learn and do around here. And do you know who your godly parent is?"

"I don't know, sir." – Her respond was plain, like it didn't matter.

"Child, call me Chiron." – The centaur smiled warmly at the kid, but she didn't mind that at all.

A shout hit our ears making me jump. It happened in a blink. Clarisse darted into the infirmary shouting Annabeth's name and waving her spear around and immediately became a threat to Pearl. A flash of light, and we saw a dagger flew towards the daughter of Ares. Percy shouted:

"NO!" – He ran after the dagger, but its destination was already set. We were terrified.

Realizing her mistake, Pearl darted after her own weapon with an amazing speed and then caught the dagger without making any noise.

"I'm sorry; I thought she was one of them." – She looked at Percy, but she didn't look sorry at all. Percy nodded, understanding. It looked like he had dealt with this.

"Sorry Clarisse, Pearl's new and she doesn't react well with sudden shouts and people waving their weapons madly." – Percy smiled a bit, looking at Clarisse who was standing there frozen.

Clarisse turned back to herself and smirked:

"Another punk arrived at camp. I'll greet her later, right now, Annabeth and Prissy; you two have to tell those stupid Romans to stop pestering our campers!"

Percy sighed heavily and gritted his teeth. Pearl tilted her head at Percy and spoke softly:

"Anger won't help you right now. Choose a better emotion."

Percy looked confused at first, then nodded sadly. He told her:

"Pearl, I'm afraid you have to check this camp out by yourself. I'll see you later."

"That's fine." – With that, she left without exposing any emotions.

"That kid, she's weird." – I stated, seeking for opposition.

"Totally, I think we shouldn't trust her, Percy." – Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the entrance like it was Pearl.

"Wise Girl, why do you say so?" – Percy asked in amuse, he looked cocky.

"Did you see the way she threw the dagger? It's like someone had trained her." – Annabeth pointed out, her voice was cold.

"Well, didn't you know how to use daggers before you even saw camp, Annabeth?" – asked Percy back. – "We shouldn't judge people by their appearances, or their skills. I don't say that we should trust her either. But give the kid a chance. Now let's go and help the newborns with their toys, shall we?"

We all walked out of the cabin and Percy wasn't so surprised at the battle field that camp had turned into. He looked tired and seemed older, like he'd just turned into an old man or something. Percy had dealt with lots of sh*t. I guess that was Kelp Head's fate.

**Plasma's point of view:**

It was brighter than Tartarus, but not much better. People fought, people cursed, people lost their sanity. This place was like a dungeon where insane prisoners wanted badly to escape and ended up stuck then began destroying each other. My creator would find lots of advantages around here, where conflicts and wars happened like sunrises and sunsets, constantly, endlessly, non-stop. I had got used to the fact a part of Percy was my weak spot, but I had faith in his strength for an unknown reason. Maybe I just had to think of it that way. I knew that he trusted in me, too which was odd. But it helped both of us and it was easy to keep my creator in place. He only got out of our holds when Percy was overcome by his weird… emotions, and I wouldn't let that happened so easily. Since he was connected to me, and that jerk was linked with my mind, I had mature conversations with him more often these days.

"_Just like your foolish mother stupid girl, you'll get yourself killed."_

"_I have a name, jerk." _– I shot back mentally.

"_Oh, is that so? As I recall, my name isn't 'jerk' either." _– I felt him snort through the weak link.

"_Want respects? Then earn respects."_

"_Very bold, __**Plasma**__. That name really suits you, daughter. Remember where you get the powers from."_

"_I wish to never be born, I don't care about that. Be quiet." _- I pushed a strong force on him; make it clear that he needed to be silence.

I knew that Percy felt Kronos stirring inside, too so I cleared my mind. My thoughts switched to the plan that we had made on our journey. Percy wanted to destroy the Big Prophecy. Even the Fates didn't know about my existence since Ma wasn't a normal mortal, so I could cover the Fates' eyes for him. I needed to pretend to be a really close friend to Percy - he told me. The son of Poseidon didn't tell me how, because he thought it would be real and more convincing if I figured it out myself. We only had a few days, and then we would disappear out of everyone's sight. Tomorrow, Percy would make another important oath on the River of Styx before we left, which would turn his blood into a weapon. It was back-up plan if Gaea touched his blood, she would be back to her slumber. I wanted to find another way, secretly, but he knew before I even thought of anything since our souls and minds were tied together. He said nothing, but his emerald eyes pleaded me to let him go that path. I didn't stop him.

I went deeper into the forest, enjoying the sounds of birds, the whispers of trees, and the movement of life. It was… different. I didn't know what it was, but never would I want it to go away. It wasn't empty like it used to feel, something was there, but not much. But it was enough, for me…

The leaves slammed into each other and I immediately bolted up to a tree. Someone was near, walking around talking. I was on the edge of the forest, where campers could be seen. My stroll must have taken a long time but I didn't recognize. A couple of Roman demi-gods, side-by-side walking together slowly, and their lips stretched slightly. They looked comfortable with each other's company, their muscles relaxed and were let loose. My eyes were trained to see the smallest detail. Their hands were holding gently. Maybe this was the answer to the acting show. I guess I was ready.

**A/N: It was a crazy week with a bunch of exams. I really hope you guys like this chapter. I did my job, now do yours, thank you for reading. Love all of you. **


	8. Lies, cries and fights

A/N: Thanks for your lovely reviews for me! Gods will surely be kind with you! My country celebrates Lunar New Year so I'll try to post constantly on my holiday, but of course, I can't be sure!

Special thanks to **seaweed brain's wise girl, severyuia, BeautifulNoMatterWhat **and **nofunnyubusnies **for following and favoring my story.

**Huy: **I told you I would post at a special time of the year! But don't get used to it, because it won't happen so often. About the foul words, well, that is something you should try to get used to because of course they're not nice, but they illustrate life! Besides, they make the story extra funny!

**TraderBAWS: **Just want you to know the two "Not bad" words mean a lot to me! Thanks for leaving your comment!

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **I really appreciate your review! It's truly a strong motivation for me to go on! About the pairing, we'll see. I'm not good at the romantic stuff but I'll try my best. But I'd prefer intense friendships more than the mushy stuff. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **I've been thinking that you've got bored of my work. It's good to see your review again. Thanks for your time. Enjoy the new chapter.

**AN: **Again with your reviews. I really don't want to be rude, but those messages of yours aren't called reviews, they're called threatening mails and silly solo conversations. If you want to tell me those things, do it directly when we're face-to-face. Anyway, here's the chapter.

**Disclaimer**: I always forget this part. Well, it's obvious that every author on this website doesn't own any stories, or movies, or TV shows, or anything, and neither do I! Rick Riordan is doing a remarkable job with Percy Jackson and I want to keep it that way!

**Chapter 9: **I make some frenemies

**Percy's Point of View:**

I hated myself for admitting it, but it was the truth: I had great fun with Plasma catching the spiders. It was her idea to make "Spider bombs". We were going to petrol-bombs at some certain cabins this evening and it would probably the last time I'd ever stay at camp. Being an emotionless girl Plasma often was, she helped me great deal in keep my emotions at bay. Finding out that my feelings could be the end of our lives, I'd started learning to control them and avoid them immediately after the insect-hunts. We didn't just catch spiders but grasshoppers as well. Plasma said that we should create conflicts with more than one cabin, but the truth was, we were going to damage almost every cabin. The most important rule was of course, no harm to campers, no-one would be injured and that leaded to no deaths allow. My little companion didn't object though she found difficulty in guaranteeing that rule since one of the only things she did during her childhood was killing while the second activity was running. I didn't blame her, not even a little; I just hoped that in the future she could have a chance to know how a normal girl was. But with our luck, the chance was tiny. That didn't mean we wouldn't try, though. Everything needed a chance…

After hours of training non-stop, I had successfully created strong water-barriers. Nothing could get through my barriers, material objects, not even Zeus' lightning bolt or someone's fire could touch me if my mind was in the right state for the perfect shield. Plasma had just finished learning to control a useful power, too. Except the capability of freezing time successfully, she could also turn back maximum five minutes to prevent bad things. For example, if she or I got injured, her power would turn back in time when those unfortunate incidents didn't happen yet. Of course, despite the fact she had mastered it, this thing required lots of energy and she would be drained doing this. So technically, we were ready to cut _my _ties to everything: campers, Olympians and unfortunately, my mortal family, Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis. When Plasma asked if my mortal family cared, I was really down. I was grateful that the little kid hadn't tried to interrupt those emotions because I had a feeling I needed them, I _deserved_ them. But after a while, ignoring the fact that I needed more time to pity myself, I restrained myself knowing that Plasma was uncomfortable if I kept it up.

I had lied to my mortal family first, in order to keep them safe. The gods and everyone else would see that I'd also betrayed my own mortal parents so that they would spare them. In a simple way to say, they would think they couldn't use my mom or Paul to blackmail me since I treated them equally. Being a coward I'd always been, I used Iris Message to do this because I didn't have enough courage to do this directly.

_Flashback:_

"_Paul and mom were doing a project like always in the living room. From the look on their face, it was obvious that they were enjoying themselves. It nearly killed me because I was about the ruin the moment. I cleared my throat and caught their attention._

'_PERCY, my baby boy! Is that really you? Tell me it's you, Percy!'_

'_Yeah, who else mother?' – I gave her a strained smile. Just like I expected, she noticed the unusual way I was speaking to her, emotionless, rude and the 'mother' part was quite terrifying to her._

'_Percy, we've been so worried about you! Where are you now? Where have you been?' – asked Paul with real concern in his eyes, although his voice sounded accusing, obviously he was upset that I had tortured my mom with my absence for two thirds year. _

'_Oh, I'm glad you care." – still with that plain voice, I replied them with the manner of a jerk._

'_Percy, honey, what happened? Are you okay?' – Mom gave me a warm, sincerely smile that made me just wanted to run into her arms and gave her a big hug. Instead, I followed the script that Plasma had written down earlier. I gave her a spine-chilling laugh._

'_Am I okay, mother? Let's see, I was born a son of Poseidon, and then ended up being in two Great Prophecies. Not to mention being the gods' pawn, being a play toy for monsters, a damn defender of Olympus and a guard-dog for those campers? I guess I am okay.' – My voice was icy._

'_Honey, why don't you come home and we'll talk about it? I know it's been a rough time and…' – My mom was sobbing painfully and leaned her head towards Paul's shoulder._

'_I won't be coming back that apartment, mother. I just want to tell you not to bother about me any longer. I'm tired playing hero game. A new fresh game would probably give me some rest, don't you think?' – I thought I was going to kill myself after this, but this was to make her safe, so I clenched my fist while I spoke._

'_What's WRONG with you Percy? Your mom and I are worried about you and now you're telling us you're not coming home?' – Paul raised his eyebrow, looking at me like he doubted if I was the real Percy Jackson. To be honest, I wasn't sure I was._

'_That place was never called home. You think you know it all Paul, but before you, I've had enough with another guy. Why did you bring me into this, mother? What's your purpose really? You want me to save this world? Is that the meaning of my existence, mother?' – I asked her with pure anger in my voice, and at that moment, I was terrified of myself. _

'_No, Percy! Don't you dare think like that! I would never…' – My mother cried, her tears ran freely on her cheeks._

'_Don't give me that sh*t, mother. I don't want to hear it. And by the way, mother, my name's not Perseus or Percy. I'm not the hero that you've created me to be. Deal with that. I'm nothing like him!' – I said, while using Blaze to destroy the Iris Message. The last thing I heard was mom breaking down on Paul."_

**End of flashback:**

I was frozen after the message but then I swept it away and went on training with Plasma. Time flied when we focused on stuff like that and it again was twilight. Sun Apollo was back down to the sea after a bright-day-but-not-so-bright-day. I ate quickly the things that Plasma found along with persuaded her to have a bite and failed miserably, we got ourselves ready. The first step was to lock Chiron and Dionysus in the Big House during the show. It was the easiest part since Plasma did it for me. She had a knack of doing these things really skillfully. I attempted to knock on the door of cabin Athena but Plasma insisted she would do that, too. I getting involved with Athena's children after the fight with Annabeth wasn't a good idea at all, not even a bit and it sucked to admit that Plasma was the suitable one for this situation since it was her who nearly got stabbed by Annabeth. I sighed and looked at the show from a tree canopy. In order to leave, this must be done. We would leave by one of Sapphire Knight's mementoes for her daughter tomorrow. It was a fragment of ruby which could transport us to anywhere we wanted, no exceptions. She only had one but the girl insisted that the situation was worth it. I could never win an argument with her.

Plasma's hobby of climbing trees and taking advantages of nature influenced me deeply and it was actually a good thing since I wouldn't be staying indoors for a really long time…

**Third person's Point of View:**

The emotionless blue-eyed girl was approaching Annabeth after she'd spotted her. It was time for dinner and every camper gathered around to sacrifice their food for the gods before having their own meal. Plasma thought it was a really disturbing ritual since the gods were no better than demi-gods, maybe even lower, but still, she follow the script not to cause any unnecessary attention before the climax. Eyeing other people carefully when they muttered the names of gods they sacrificed their food to, Plasma tried to think of someone who deserved the food and she mumbled:

"To Hestia, for giving me your blessing."

She threw the bread to the dancing flame and it hissed in the air. It felt different for the young girl staring at the blaze which wasn't in Tartarus. Wasting no time, she left space for other demi-gods to finish their business and executed the plan. Plasma thought of blue coke in her head and got a glass of the weird liquid. She didn't sip it even a bit but some kind of curiosity rose in her but then she recognized it was Percy's who worried for her. Easing herself and the person at the other side of the link, the girl got her calm back and reluctantly drank the thing while strolling quickly towards the blonde successor of Athena. Focusing on the task, she didn't know what it tasted like before it spilled all over on Annabeth's clothes after an organized-but-not-organized crash. The blonde girl squeaked surprisingly then composed herself after realizing who bumped into her. Her face immediately turned into something that Plasma couldn't understand but she quickly said:

"Oh I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking and…"

"Yes, yes, I know, McKnight." – grumbled Annabeth while flicking her clothes with her hands and drying them with the napkins even it was futile.

"I'd prefer Pearl, Annabeth. And I think it's not that bad. You'll clean yourself later anyway, right?" – Plasma tried to smile in a friendly way and earned a look of disgust from Annabeth.

"You're having blue drinks, Pearl?" – Annabeth pronounced the word _blue _and Pearl with venom. – "Percy shared his favorite stuff with you, didn't he?"

"I'm just curious, you know. He's obsessed with them so I just… Oh! By the way, he looked quite upset after the talk you two had. What happened?"

"Oh, you don't know? I'm surprised he didn't tell you since it's probably the beginning of your sweet relationship with him!" – snarled Annabeth while punching her table.

"What do you mean _sweet relationship_, Annabeth?"- asked Plasma innocently, and to be honest, it looked really convincing. – "Isn't he your mate or something? He keeps babbling about you like a dreamer during the whole journey to camp!"

"Really, did he really? From what I know, he's just a son of a b*tch who only cared about himself!"

"Hey, don't talk about him like that! You're not as good as him so that makes you a dick!" – whispered Plasma but however, it was clear like crystal and gave every creep. The daughter of Kronos had no idea what exactly the last word meant but she had a feeling she just succeeded the first step to war.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" – Annabeth threw her fist at Plasma who raised her hand to catch it with her palm.

"SNAP!" was heard. Everyone stared at the scene of Annabeth got her hand stuck in Plasma's palm but her pride had forbidden her to scream out in pain. Recognizing the chance, Plasma jerked back with a confused look on her face, and then shock. She groaned with a look of disbelief on her face and then ran out everyone's sight. The show had officially begun.

**Percy's Point of View:**

Okay, if Plasma was a mortal, she would have become a famous actress of Hollywood or something. If I didn't know her from the start, I'd have thought she was just another typical girl from a random minor god cabin. Now it was my turn and I forbade myself to ruin Plasma's work. It was about eight o'clock and everyone relaxed after dinner. Envy crossed me when I looked at their happy faces but then I reminded myself not to be a selfish idiot. I declared wars with cabin Athena equal I disrespected some other cabins, too. Holding the two sacks of living spiders in one hand, I walked mindlessly on the coast near cabin Athena. I just stood and waited for my target and not waiting for long, I saw her. Annabeth eyed me like I was already her enemy who would surly die really painfully, her grey eyes flared in the dark, but I didn't flinch. I walked faster and took a deep breath.

"HEY! What did you do to Pearl, Chase?"

"Oh, so I'm the bad one, huh, Poseidon's spawn?" – humiliated Annabeth. It really worked; I got my blood boiled in my veins. – "Teaching new campers some manners is wrong now, mighty son of Poseidon?"

"You have no rights to hurt her, daughter of Athena! Is this the real you, torturing people just because they're not like how you want them to be?" – I shivered at my own tone. Never had I imagined the day I'd talk to Annabeth with this tone.

"So what are you like? A jerk who falls in love with b*tchy chicks?"

"Actually, I think my ex fit your description quite well, don't you think?" – I smirked ruthlessly while started running towards her cabin where the door was left opened while controlling the sea to rise. – "No-one gets away when they hurt my friends!"

Annabeth stormed after me with pure fury on her face.

"Stay away from my cabin, JERK!"

The sea caught up with Annabeth and swallowed her, pushing her into her own cabin. I looked at the faces of her siblings who were ready to kill me without second thoughts and smirked.

"HAVE FUN!"

I threw two sacks full of spiders into the cabin which bottoms were tied with bottles of coke with Mentos gum inside. When the two objects hit the ground, the bottle shook and exploded right after the impact, creating a "BOOM!" sound. Athena's children were definitely having great fun of their lifetime. Screams were heard from the cabin. The last thing I heard was:

"JACKSON, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!"

"I've already paid the price." – I whispered to myself and turned to see Plasma offering her hand to me. I took it without hesitation and darted into the forest. Tomorrow was a new page with darker dawn.

* * *

**Plasma's Point of View:**

Dawn broke again. I couldn't help but wonder. Random things travelled through my mind. Which dawn would be my last one? When would be the last time those strange stunning lights hit my eyes? Wait, how come I had thoughts like this? Percy. Of course. I never really slept because it was unnecessary. After a small fight, Percy had agreed to have his full sleep because who knew if he would have any full sleeps again in the days forward? It went like this.

_Flashback:_

"'_Okay, so I guess people say sleep tight this time, right?' – I asked him, but it didn't sound like a question._

'_Oh, I take the first watch. You go inside and rest, Plasma.' – He immediately responded me, but I sighed._

'_I'm not like any of you around here Percy. I don't sleep.'_

'_Don't or won't?' – He raised his eyebrow._

'_Maybe both, I don't know. But does it matter? You need sleep, go ahead and have it. I want to stay awake; I sit outside and do my job. Everyone's happy. End of story. Why do you make such a big deal about this?' – I challenged him to protest, but of course, he listening to someone was like Kronos being a caring parent._

'_Actually, not everyone's happy about this. Why can't you at least try to be normal just for a change? I guarantee that it won't hurt you in any way and it's actually healthy for you!' – Percy reasoned._

'_I'm not saying that I won't try, Percy! But now's not the time and here's not the place!'_

'_Then when and where? Who knows if we're going to survive long enough for your try?' – He asked, looking at me with glowing green eyes. – 'Get in, Plasma! You've done enough for me! Give me a chance to do something useful!'_

'_I won't.' – I stated simply, trying to end the conversation._

'_You will, hon.' - He attempted to pick me up but I snapped his arm away._

'_I won't, stop being stubborn.'_

'_Plasma, just GET IN, for our sake!'_

'_NO,I WON'T' – I just kind of put him to sleep myself with my knuckles kissing his face again."_

**End of flashback:**

I felt him getting up before the sun gave its first weak rays a few minutes, but I didn't confront him yet. Time being alone was needed, and I didn't need the soul-link to know. His head must be damn strong to not break down after the plays we pulled up. Of course, I barely knew anything or anyone around here but from the way his emotions and feelings filled him when he thought, or saw, or met, or contacted people, I knew that they were what held him to this horrible world. I just hoped those nails were strong enough to pin him to this realm, not the reason of him going to Hades' realm at young age. Lost in my thoughts, I reminded myself to search for the thing called _breakfast _but before I spun my heels out of the camping area, Percy's hand wrapped my arm.

"No need for that, I've already got it." – He said sincerely, handing bread. – "And I'm definitely going to starve myself to death if you don't eat with me."

His green eyes reflected the dawn from the horizon, making them like glowing gently and modestly in the dark navy blue background. I sighed and took the bread, reluctantly bit it. This time, I did it slowly and chewed the thing in my mouth so it looked like I enjoyed doing this thing, but Percy wasn't convinced. As I knew, I didn't frown, or make any negative signs or expressions showing that I didn't care. He eyed me like I was an interesting piece of art:

"If you don't like this, I'll try something else next time. Maybe chocolate or chips and stuff like that. Most kids on this planet got obsessed with those things but since you're nothing like that, we'll try everything we come across."

"Just don't let this become an annoying obstacle on our path, Percy. I don't want more complications." – Even I said this; I still hoped someday I could understand at least a bit of this world.

"Ares cabin's going to question my actions last night today. Today's the last day I see this camp as safety."- Stated Percy, his eyes were distant, reliving all the memories he had in this place.

"You'll get your family and friends back, Percy." – I reassured him strongly, even though it was impossible. But then, it might be impossible for me to make it, but there was clearly hope for him. His plan was to break the prophecy and since he and the other six were the heroes of this riddle thing, I could take their place if the plan turned to a different direction.

"Thanks Plasma, for this. I really don't know if I should dream about that day."

"If you want to get through this, you should really have faith in that day."

"I'll try, Plasma." – Percy smiled sadly, looking at the calm ocean. Soon, he would cut himself out of it, too.

"Are you good with Blaze now?" – I asked him, changed the subject, but it still involved the leaving because he would dump Riptide in the end.

"I think she's fond of me, Plasma. When I hold her, I feel warmth coming from the hilt and the blade always sparks like it encourages me to fight well!" – He replied excitedly, looking at the wristband. I was glad that he appreciated the weird weapon. – "But what would you use if I…?"

"I'm stick with my daggers and I'm not bad at archery so I'll be fine." – I cleaned up his worry immediately.

"I think we should really pack up now. It's time." – said Percy.

The tent shrunk into a small handkerchief and retreated back into my backpack. It was interesting witnessing that, I noted to find out the origin of this item. I put on my sneakers after walking with bare feet during my time at this place. It was enjoyable, but it was nice having something shielded my feet from weapons. Percy wore a black long-sleeved shirt with stiff collar and put on a black T-shirt outside the shirt so only the sleeves and collar could be seen also the orange camp T-shirt outside. It was obvious that he would rip that weird piece of outfit later at the last moment. Just like our expectation, the campers glared daggers at us when we were in their sight, but we remained calm and collected. We pulled up a random and silly conversation about food and Percy laughed a bit at my statement of how disgusting the food called jellybeans was.

"PERCY JACKSON, YOU'RE SO DEAD!"

The two teenagers put on arrogant smirks on their faces however Plasma's wasn't so convincing since she didn't really understand what a smirk was and why people had it. The Ares and Athena campers were standing in a crowd and pointing their weapons at Percy and Plasma, who looked composed like nothing was odd. Other campers just stood and watched them with pity and scorn. Percy replied:

"That's a pretty good way to say good morning, you know. As I see, what you're going to do is just Gaea's warm-up."

"What's going on with YOU, Percy? You act like a total ass since your return from Roman camp. Did they do that to you?" – asked Clarisse with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, I see that two camps haven't even started to accept each other. That's why Gaea has so many advantages." – commented Plasma sarcastically. – "I can't believe you have to lead these kindergarten kids, Percy. You have my sympathy."

"Thanks honey, that's really kind of you." – Percy chuckled at Plasma's joke even the tension was boiling the morning air. – "Now you know what I have to deal with since I found out what kind of freak I am. But I guess I really have to change that, don't I?"

"What do you mean with that sentence, Perce?" – asked Nico with anger in his voice. The boy couldn't believe what he was hearing. If his doubts were true, the son of Poseidon had done a terrible thing.

"Oh Di Angelo, you know exactly what I mean. I'm tired of being a play toy." – replied Percy lazily, eyeing his cabin which he was sure that Athena campers had burnt it last night. It wasn't his home any longer anyway, so he pushed aside the emotions easily.

"So what? Now you side with Gaea, brat of Poseidon?" – Dionysus had obviously got out of the Big House after last night's incident and he was really unhappy.

"Oh right, and my old man, too; I was really blind to not see the fact that I'm only his pawn and once the pawn has no use, he'll dump it like trash." – said Percy coldly. – "I doubt if he's any better than you drunk bastard who calls yourself a god!" – Thunder boomed from the horizon and everyone stared warily at the lightning flared and tore the sky.

"HEY, watch your mouth, Jackson!" – a child of Dionysus immediately objected but the wine god was already out of his senses.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" – He said while controlling some vines in attempt to suffocate the green-eyed demi-god who smirked at the futile action.

He created water to crush all the plants that were moving around him and splashed it to the god's face.

"Jeez, do we have to pay for everything we do here? That requires a lot of money." – said Plasma, laughing lowly but everyone was startled the awkward sound coming from her. It was like humiliation to all of them. – "And the trees here took lots of place, don't you think we should remove some of them? If a kind needs a place on this planet, some of them must sacrifice."

That was when horrible screams and a stampede was heard coming from the Demeter cabin. The grasshoppers did their job well and two powerful hybrids weren't disappointed by the chaos they'd caused. Katie Gardner apparently wanted to strangle Percy just like Annabeth.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, JACKASS?" – She threw a spear at Percy but Plasma jumped into action from the distance. She focused on the weapon and it slowed down giving Percy time to transform Blaze and slay the spear into half.

Dead silence. Everyone held their breath at the sight Plasma slowing the spear down with a smile and her hand raising towards the object. Annabeth squeaked in disbelief. She pointed at the blue-eyed girl like she was a beast and stammered:

"WAIT, I KNOW there was something wrong about you! You're… you're…!"

"Wow, I feel so honored. Did I just make an Athena's child stutter and not know what to say? Percy, do you mind noting down this day?" – said Plasma sarcastically, eyeing Percy carefully to see if he could stand the show. He gave her a reassuring grin and replied:

"I'm sure that the world would remember this day to the end of time, kid!"

"IDIOT, she's a daughter of KRONOS! She can freeze time, are you blind?" – asked the Stolls, looking at the once cheerful son of Poseidon for a reasonable explanation of all this.

"Percy, child, you must come back to your senses. Do you know who this girl is?" – asked Chiron slowly and cautiously, pointing at Plasma with terror in his brown eyes.

"YEAH, did she convince you to change side or something? WAKE UP, MAN, that's a real threat you brought to camp!" – Piper tried to knock some sense into Percy's head.

"Wow, just like I thought, you guys always judge things by your poor knowledge. That's a shame. And the girl over there has a name you know." – stated Percy calmly like he was having tea with the British queen.

"Hey Percy, whatever you want to do, just finish quickly. We're about to be visited by some unfriendly people." – said Plasma with a hint of amuse in her voice.

"Percy, what the heck has happened to you? You defeated Kronos by your own hands. You've been through a bunch of crap to make sure his mother doesn't kill anyone. WHY are you siding with HER?" – asked Nico with fire burning in his eyes and voice. He didn't know what to say. Betray filled his brain; he wondered if Percy rescued him because he really wanted to or just because the monster who was standing side-by-side with Percy.

"My my, Nico, I thought at least you would be the one who reacts calmly with this since you're a son of Hades, but I really am mistaken." – sighed Percy, rubbing his hair in "disappointment". – "Looks like Zeus, Hera or to be exact, the Olympians have successfully put sh*t into your minds. I can't believe I served them, such a waste of my lifetime!"

"PERSEUS JACKSON, you have ONE second to apologize and take back everything you just said!" – Everyone shouted, their jaws dropped on the ground but too late, flashes of gold light appeared in thin air and the gods showed up with fury in their eyes. The sky darkened and the temperature dropped sharply.

"Oh well, I guess we have to greet our visitors now." – spoke Plasma with boredom, squeezing Percy's shoulder to comfort him.

"PERSEUS, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" – boomed Poseidon, the mighty god of seas.

"Oh sorry my _Lord_, I've just said the truths out loud for the world to hear and I'm sorry that those facts aren't as pretty as you want them to be." – replied Percy calmly, smirking at his father's surprised face.

"YOU MUST DIE, spawn of KRONOS/POSEIDON!" – announced Zeus and Athena, aiming their weapons at the two with pure will of kill in their auras.

"Huh, I think you could have treated your sister better than that, Zeus!" – said Plasma smugly with disgust in her voice. Now she understood why Percy's life was full of what-he-also-said.

Percy flinched a bit at the sentence, feeling weird that a young girl like Plasma was the oldest gods' sibling. It was abnormal but oh well, this was an immortal family we were talking about. Before anyone could speak out a word, the lightning bolt was flying towards Percy. No-one moved and Percy was frozen by the action. For the first time, Plasma knew what it was like to feel extremely _angry_.

"I DISLIKE MY CREATOR DEEPLY, BUT I CAN SEE WHY HE WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASSES SO BADLY!"

Her tied hair broke loose and flew in the blowing wind while her eyes turned into a glowing amber color. Percy was stunned at the incident and immediately jumped into action. The cold air now had just turned colder because of temperature drop, time froze while a pulse of aura radiated from Plasma made everyone's heads wanted to fly. The lightning bolt stopped dead track on its way and Percy quickly created a water barrier. He snapped:

"PLA… PEARL, SNAP OUT OF THIS!" – He hissed urgently, wrapping his arms around her torso.

The bad weather immediately stopped and the sound "BANG!" of a horrible explosion was heard, Zeus' lightning bolt hit the surface of Percy's water shield and it backfired to the cabins. It happened in a blink and luckily no-one was in its way. The Ares cabin caught the electric energy and burst into white flame while the other ones were damaged by the _ice _from Percy's barrier broke and crashed into the cabins. Everyone was shocked at the power the two teenagers just performed and Zeus felt the urge of throwing them into Tartarus as fast as possible. Before he could open his mouth, Percy and Pearl were already at the camp's gate with the pure hatred on their features. Percy said:

"You're lucky, Zeus! And _Poseidon_, DON'T EVER MESS UP WITH OTHER WOMEN LIKE YOU DID WITH SALLY JACKSON AGAIN! SHE'S SO STUPID FOR FALLING FOR SOMEONE LIKE **YOU**!" – Percy focused on the strength in his body and pulled a strong wave which blocked everyone's sight along with slowing them down from chasing them. Some gods began to flash to stop them from leaving but Plasma took out daggers and quickly threw them straight to the gods' eyes. Percy threw Riptide into the rising waves which were swallowing the campers.

"GET BACK HERE, JACKSON!" – Zeus shouted, shaking the air with lightning but the two were already taking out the red bloody ruby shard. Percy slain the shard into pieces with Blaze and they said loudly: "ALASKA!"

The people Percy Jackson had always considered as family and friends had just become his enemies to death. The worst part was done with an evil laugh coming from the Titan Lord.

**A/N: Okay, I've written this chapter in a bad mood so it could be quite bad. PLEASE give me some reviews, I really need them otherwise it would probably be discontinued! A long holiday is ahead so I'll try to update constantly. **


	9. I make some frenemies

A/N: Thanks for your lovely reviews for me! Gods will surely be kind with you! My country celebrates Lunar New Year so I'll try to post constantly on my holiday, but of course, I can't be sure!

Special thanks to **seaweed brain's wise girl, severyuia, BeautifulNoMatterWhat **and **nofunnyubusnies **for following and favoring my story.

**Huy: **I told you I would post at a special time of the year! But don't get used to it, because it won't happen so often. About the foul words, well, that is something you should try to get used to because of course they're not nice, but they illustrate life! Besides, they make the story extra funny!

**TraderBAWS: **Just want you to know the two "Not bad" words mean a lot to me! Thanks for leaving your comment!

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **I really appreciate your review! It's truly a strong motivation for me to go on! About the pairing, we'll see. I'm not good at the romantic stuff but I'll try my best. But I'd prefer intense friendships more than the mushy stuff. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **I've been thinking that you've got bored of my work. It's good to see your review again. Thanks for your time. Enjoy the new chapter.

**AN: **Again with your reviews. I really don't want to be rude, but those messages of yours aren't called reviews, they're called threatening mails and silly solo conversations. If you want to tell me those things, do it directly when we're face-to-face. Anyway, here's the chapter.

**Disclaimer**: I always forget this part. Well, it's obvious that every author on this website doesn't own any stories, or movies, or TV shows, or anything, and neither do I! Rick Riordan is doing a remarkable job with Percy Jackson and I want to keep it that way!

**Chapter 9: **I make some frenemies

**Percy's Point of View:**

I hated myself for admitting it, but it was the truth: I had great fun with Plasma catching the spiders. It was her idea to make "Spider bombs". We were going to petrol-bombs at some certain cabins this evening and it would probably the last time I'd ever stay at camp. Being an emotionless girl Plasma often was, she helped me great deal in keep my emotions at bay. Finding out that my feelings could be the end of our lives, I'd started learning to control them and avoid them immediately after the insect-hunts. We didn't just catch spiders but grasshoppers as well. Plasma said that we should create conflicts with more than one cabin, but the truth was, we were going to damage almost every cabin. The most important rule was of course, no harm to campers, no-one would be injured and that leaded to no deaths allow. My little companion didn't object though she found difficulty in guaranteeing that rule since one of the only things she did during her childhood was killing while the second activity was running. I didn't blame her, not even a little; I just hoped that in the future she could have a chance to know how a normal girl was. But with our luck, the chance was tiny. That didn't mean we wouldn't try, though. Everything needed a chance…

After hours of training non-stop, I had successfully created strong water-barriers. Nothing could get through my barriers, material objects, not even Zeus' lightning bolt or someone's fire could touch me if my mind was in the right state for the perfect shield. Plasma had just finished learning to control a useful power, too. Except the capability of freezing time successfully, she could also turn back maximum five minutes to prevent bad things. For example, if she or I got injured, her power would turn back in time when those unfortunate incidents didn't happen yet. Of course, despite the fact she had mastered it, this thing required lots of energy and she would be drained doing this. So technically, we were ready to cut _my _ties to everything: campers, Olympians and unfortunately, my mortal family, Sally Jackson and Paul Blofis. When Plasma asked if my mortal family cared, I was really down. I was grateful that the little kid hadn't tried to interrupt those emotions because I had a feeling I needed them, I _deserved_ them. But after a while, ignoring the fact that I needed more time to pity myself, I restrained myself knowing that Plasma was uncomfortable if I kept it up.

I had lied to my mortal family first, in order to keep them safe. The gods and everyone else would see that I'd also betrayed my own mortal parents so that they would spare them. In a simple way to say, they would think they couldn't use my mom or Paul to blackmail me since I treated them equally. Being a coward I'd always been, I used Iris Message to do this because I didn't have enough courage to do this directly.

_Flashback:_

"_Paul and mom were doing a project like always in the living room. From the look on their faces, it was obvious that they were enjoying themselves. It nearly killed me because I was about to ruin the moment. I cleared my throat and caught their attention._

'_PERCY, my baby boy! Is that really you? Tell me it's you, Percy!'_

'_Yeah, who else mother?' – I gave her a strained smile. Just like I expected, she noticed the unusual way I was speaking to her, emotionless, rude and the 'mother' part was quite terrifying to her._

'_Percy, we've been so worried about you! Where are you now? Where have you been?' – asked Paul with real concern in his eyes, although his voice sounded accusing, obviously he was upset that I had tortured my mom with my absence for two thirds year. _

'_Oh, I'm glad you care." – still with that plain voice, I replied them with manners of a jerk._

'_Percy, honey, what happened? Are you okay?' – Mom gave me a warm, sincerely smile that made me just wanted to run into her arms and gave her a big hug. Instead, I followed the script that Plasma had written down earlier. I gave her a spine-chilling laugh._

'_Am I okay, mother? Let's see, I was born a son of Poseidon, and then ended up being in two Great Prophecies. Not to mention being the gods' pawn, being a play toy for monsters, a damn defender of Olympus and a guard-dog for those campers? I guess I am okay.' – My voice was icy._

'_Honey, why don't you come home and we'll talk about it? I know it's been a rough time and…' – My mom was sobbing painfully and leaned her head towards Paul's shoulder._

'_I won't be coming back that apartment, mother. I just want to tell you not to bother about me any longer. I'm tired of playing hero all the time. A new fresh game would probably give me some rest, don't you think?' – I thought I was going to kill myself after this, but this was to make her safe, so I clenched my fist while I spoke._

'_What's WRONG with you Percy? Your mom and I are worried about you and now you're telling us you're not coming home?' – Paul raised his eyebrow, looking at me like he doubted if I was the real Percy Jackson. To be honest, I wasn't sure I was._

'_That place was never called home. You think you know it all Paul, but before you, I've had enough with another guy. Why did you bring me into this, mother? What's your purpose really? You want me to save this world? Is that the meaning of my existence, mother?' – I asked her with pure anger in my voice, and at that moment, I was terrified of myself. _

'_No, Percy! Don't you dare think like that! I would never…' – My mother cried, her tears ran freely on her cheeks._

'_Don't give me that sh*t, mother. I don't want to hear it. And by the way, mother, my name's not Perseus or Percy. I'm not the hero that you've created me to be. Deal with that. I'm nothing like him!' – I said, while using Blaze to destroy the Iris Message. The last thing I heard was mom breaking down on Paul."_

**End of flashback:**

I was frozen after the message but then I swept it away and went on training with Plasma. Time flied when we focused on stuff like that and it again was twilight. Sun Apollo was back down to the sea after a bright-day-but-not-so-bright-day. I ate quickly the things that Plasma found along with persuaded her to have a bite and failed miserably, we got ourselves ready. The first step was to lock Chiron and Dionysus in the Big House during the show. It was the easiest part since Plasma did it for me. She had a knack of doing these things really skillfully. I attempted to knock on the door of cabin Athena but Plasma insisted she would do that, too. I getting involved with Athena's children after the fight with Annabeth wasn't a good idea at all, not even a bit and it sucked to admit that Plasma was the suitable one for this situation since it was her who nearly got stabbed by Annabeth. I sighed and looked at the show from a tree canopy. In order to leave, this must be done. We would leave by one of Sapphire Knight's mementoes for her daughter tomorrow. It was a fragment of ruby which could transport us to anywhere we wanted, no exceptions. She only had one but the girl insisted that the situation was worth it. I could never win an argument with her.

Plasma's hobby of climbing trees and taking advantages of nature influenced me deeply and it was actually a good thing since I wouldn't be staying indoors for a really long time…

**Third person's Point of View:**

The emotionless blue-eyed girl was approaching Annabeth after she'd spotted her. It was time for dinner and every camper gathered around to sacrifice their food for the gods before having their own meal. Plasma thought it was a really disturbing ritual since the gods were no better than demi-gods, maybe even lower, but still, she follow the script not to cause any unnecessary attention before the climax. Eyeing other people carefully when they muttered the names of gods they sacrificed their food to, Plasma tried to think of someone who deserved the food and she mumbled:

"To Hestia, for giving me your blessing."

She threw the bread to the dancing flame and it hissed in the air. It felt different for the young girl staring at the blaze which wasn't in Tartarus. Wasting no time, she left space for other demi-gods to finish their business and executed the plan. Plasma thought of blue coke in her head and got a glass of the weird liquid. She didn't sip it even a bit but some kind of curiosity rose in her but then she recognized it was Percy's who worried for her. Easing herself and the person at the other side of the link, the girl got her calm back and reluctantly drank the thing while strolling quickly towards the blonde successor of Athena. Focusing on the task, she didn't know what it tasted like before it spilled all over on Annabeth's clothes after an organized-but-not-organized crash. The blonde girl squeaked surprisingly then composed herself after realizing who bumped into her. Her face immediately turned into something that Plasma couldn't understand but she quickly said:

"Oh I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking and…"

"Yes, yes, I know, McKnight." – grumbled Annabeth while flicking her clothes with her hands and drying them with the napkins even it was futile.

"I'd prefer Pearl, Annabeth. And I think it's not that bad. You'll clean yourself later anyway, right?" – Plasma tried to smile in a friendly way and earned a look of disgust from Annabeth.

"You're having blue drinks, Pearl?" – Annabeth pronounced the word _blue _and Pearl with venom. – "Percy shared his favorite stuff with you, didn't he?"

"I'm just curious, you know. He's obsessed with them so I just… Oh! By the way, he looked quite upset after the talk you two had. What happened?"

"Oh, you don't know? I'm surprised he didn't tell you since it's probably the beginning of your sweet relationship with him!" – snarled Annabeth while punching her table.

"What do you mean _sweet relationship_, Annabeth?"- asked Plasma innocently, and to be honest, it looked really convincing. – "Isn't he your mate or something? He keeps babbling about you like a dreamer during the whole journey to camp!"

"Really, did he really? From what I know, he's just a son of a b*tch who only cared about himself!"

"Hey, don't talk about him like that! You're not as good as him so that makes you a dick!" – whispered Plasma but however, it was clear like crystal and gave every creep. The daughter of Kronos had no idea what exactly the last word meant but she had a feeling she just succeeded the first step to war.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" – Annabeth threw her fist at Plasma who raised her hand to catch it with her palm.

"SNAP!" was heard. Everyone stared at the scene of Annabeth got her hand stuck in Plasma's palm but her pride had forbidden her to scream out in pain. Recognizing the chance, Plasma jerked back with a confused look on her face, and then shock. She groaned with a look of disbelief on her face and then ran out of everyone's sight. The show had officially begun.

**Percy's Point of View:**

Okay, if Plasma was a mortal, she would have become a famous actress of Hollywood or something. If I didn't know her from the start, I'd have thought she was just another typical girl from a random minor god cabin. Now it was my turn and I forbade myself to ruin Plasma's work. It was about eight o'clock and everyone relaxed after dinner. Envy crossed me when I looked at their happy faces but then I reminded myself not to be a selfish idiot. I declared wars with cabin Athena equal I disrespected some other cabins, too. Holding the two sacks of living spiders in one hand, I walked mindlessly on the coast near cabin Athena. I just stood and waited for my target and not waiting for long, I saw her. Annabeth eyed me like I was already her enemy who would surly die really painfully, her grey eyes flared in the dark, but I didn't flinch. I walked faster and took a deep breath.

"HEY! What did you do to Pearl, Chase?"

"Oh, so I'm the bad one, huh, Poseidon's spawn?" – humiliated Annabeth. It really worked; I got my blood boiled in my veins. – "Teaching new campers some manners is wrong now, mighty son of Poseidon?"

"You have no rights to hurt her, daughter of Athena! Is this the real you, torturing people just because they're not like how you want them to be?" – I shivered at my own tone. Never had I imagined the day I'd talk to Annabeth with this tone.

"So what are you like? A jerk who falls in love with b*tchy chicks?"

"Actually, I think my ex fit your description quite well, don't you think?" – I smirked ruthlessly while started running towards her cabin where the door was left opened while controlling the sea to rise. – "No-one gets away when they hurt my friends!"

Annabeth stormed after me with pure fury on her face.

"Stay away from my cabin, JERK!"

The sea caught up with Annabeth and swallowed her, pushing her into her own cabin. I looked at the faces of her siblings who were ready to kill me without second thoughts and smirked.

"HAVE FUN!"

I threw two sacks full of spiders into the cabin which bottoms were tied with bottles of coke with Mentos gum inside. When the two objects hit the ground, the bottle shook and exploded right after the impact, creating a "BOOM!" sound. Athena's children were definitely having great fun of their lifetime. Screams were heard from the cabin. The last thing I heard was:

"JACKSON, YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!"

"I've already paid the price." – I whispered to myself and turned to see Plasma offering her hand to me. I took it without hesitation and darted into the forest. Tomorrow was a new page with darker dawn.

* * *

**Plasma's Point of View:**

Dawn broke again. I couldn't help but wonder. Random things travelled through my mind. Which dawn would be my last one? When would be the last time those strange stunning lights hit my eyes? Wait, how come I had thoughts like this? Percy. Of course. I never really slept because it was unnecessary. After a small fight, Percy had agreed to have his full sleep because who knew if he would have any full sleeps again in the days forward. It went like this.

_Flashback:_

"'_Okay, so I guess people say sleep tight this time, right?' – I asked him, but it didn't sound like a question._

'_Oh, I take the first watch. You go inside and rest, Plasma.' – He immediately responded me, but I sighed._

'_I'm not like any of you around here Percy. I don't sleep.'_

'_Don't or won't?' – He raised his eyebrow._

'_Maybe both, I don't know. But does it matter? You need sleep, go ahead and have it. I want to stay awake; I sit outside and do my job. Everyone's happy. End of story. Why do you make such a big deal about this?' – I challenged him to protest, but of course, he listening to someone was like Kronos being a caring parent._

'_Actually, not everyone's happy about this. Why can't you at least try to be normal just for a change? I guarantee that it won't hurt you in any way and it's actually healthy for you!' – Percy reasoned._

'_I'm not saying that I won't try, Percy! But now's not the time and here's not the place!'_

'_Then when and where? Who knows if we're going to survive long enough for your try?' – He asked, looking at me with glowing green eyes. – 'Get in, Plasma! You've done enough for me! Give me a chance to do something useful!'_

'_I won't.' – I stated simply, trying to end the conversation._

'_You will, hon.' - He attempted to pick me up but I snapped his arm away._

'_I won't, stop being stubborn.'_

'_Plasma, just GET IN, for our sake!'_

'_NO,I WON'T' – I just kind of put him to sleep myself with my knuckles kissing his face again."_

**End of flashback:**

I felt him getting up before the sun gave its first weak rays a few minutes, but I didn't confront him yet. Time being alone was needed, and I didn't need the soul-link to know. His head must be damn strong to not break down after the plays we pulled up. Of course, I barely knew anything or anyone around here but from the way his emotions and feelings filled him when he thought, or saw, or met, or contacted people, I knew that they were what held him to this horrible world. I just hoped those nails were strong enough to pin him to this realm, not the reason of him going to Hades' realm at young age. Lost in my thoughts, I reminded myself to search for the thing called _breakfast _but before I spun my heels out of the camping area, Percy's hand wrapped my arm.

"No need for that, I've already got it." – He said sincerely, handing bread. – "And I'm definitely going to starve myself to death if you don't eat with me."

His green eyes reflected the dawn from the horizon, making them like glowing gently and modestly in the dark navy blue background. I sighed and took the bread, reluctantly bit it. This time, I did it slowly and chewed the thing in my mouth so it looked like I enjoyed doing this thing, but Percy wasn't convinced. As I knew, I didn't frown, or make any negative signs or expressions showing that I didn't care. He eyed me like I was an interesting piece of art:

"If you don't like this, I'll try something else next time. Maybe chocolate or chips and stuff like that. Most kids on this planet got obsessed with those things but since you're nothing like that, we'll try everything we come across."

"Just don't let this become an annoying obstacle on our path, Percy. I don't want more complications." – Even I said this; I still hoped someday I could understand at least a bit of this world.

"Ares cabin's going to question my actions last night today. Today's the last day I see this camp as safety."- Stated Percy, his eyes were distant, reliving all the memories he had in this place.

"You'll get your family and friends back, Percy." – I reassured him strongly, even though it was impossible. But then, it might be impossible for me to make it, but there was clearly hope for him. His plan was to break the prophecy and since he and the other six were the heroes of this riddle thing, I could take their place if the plan turned to a different direction.

"Thanks Plasma, for this. I really don't know if I should dream about that day."

"If you want to get through this, you should really have faith in that day."

"I'll try, Plasma." – Percy smiled sadly, looking at the calm ocean. Soon, he would cut himself out of it, too.

"Are you good with Blaze now?" – I asked him, changed the subject, but it still involved the leaving because he would dump Riptide in the end.

"I think she's fond of me, Plasma. When I hold her, I feel warmth coming from the hilt and the blade always sparks like it encourages me to fight well!" – He replied excitedly, looking at the wristband. I was glad that he appreciated the weird weapon. – "But what would you use if I…?"

"I'm stick with my daggers and I'm not bad at archery so I'll be fine." – I cleaned up his worry immediately.

"I think we should really pack up now. It's time." – said Percy.

The tent shrunk into a small handkerchief and retreated back into my backpack. It was interesting witnessing that, I noted to find out the origin of this item. I put on my sneakers after walking with bare feet during my time at this place. It was enjoyable, but it was nice having something shielded my feet from weapons. Percy wore a black long-sleeved shirt with stiff collar and put on a black T-shirt outside the shirt so only the sleeves and collar could be seen also the orange camp T-shirt outside. It was obvious that he would rip that weird piece of outfit later in the last moment. Just like our expectation, the campers glared daggers at us when we were in their sight, but we remained calm and collected. We pulled up a random and silly conversation about food and Percy laughed a bit at my statement of how disgusting the food called jellybeans was.

**Third Person's Point of View:**

"PERCY JACKSON, YOU'RE SO DEAD!"

The two teenagers put on arrogant smirks on their faces however Plasma's wasn't so convincing since she didn't really understand what a smirk was and why people had it. The Ares and Athena campers were standing in a crowd and pointing their weapons at Percy and Plasma, who looked composed like nothing was odd. Other campers just stood and watched them with pity and scorn. Percy replied:

"That's a pretty good way to say good morning, you know. As I see, what you're going to do is just Gaea's warm-up."

"What's going on with YOU, Percy? You act like a total ass since your return from Roman camp. Did they do that to you?" – asked Clarisse with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, I see that two camps haven't even started to accept each other. That's why Gaea has so many advantages." – commented Plasma sarcastically. – "I can't believe you have to lead these kindergarten kids, Percy. You have my sympathy."

"Thanks honey, that's really kind of you." – Percy chuckled at Plasma's joke even the tension was boiling the morning air. – "Now you know what I have to deal with since I found out what kind of freak I am. But I guess I really have to change that, don't I?"

"What do you mean with that sentence, Perce?" – asked Nico with anger in his voice. The boy couldn't believe what he was hearing. If his doubts were true, the son of Poseidon had done a terrible thing.

"Oh Di Angelo, you know exactly what I mean. I'm tired of being a play toy." – replied Percy lazily, eyeing his cabin which he was sure that Athena campers had burnt it last night. It wasn't his home any longer anyway, so he pushed aside the emotions easily.

"So what? Now you side with Gaea, brat of Poseidon?" – Dionysus had obviously got out of the Big House after last night's incident and he was really unhappy.

"Oh right, and my old man, too; I was really blind to not see the fact that I'm only his pawn and once the pawn has no use, he'll dump it like trash." – said Percy coldly. – "I doubt if he's any better than you drunk bastard who calls yourself a god!" – Thunder boomed from the horizon and everyone stared warily at the lightning flared and tore the sky.

"HEY, watch your mouth, Jackson!" – a child of Dionysus immediately objected but the wine god was already out of his senses.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" – He said while controlling some vines in attempt to suffocate the green-eyed demi-god who smirked at the futile action.

He created water to crush all the plants that were moving around him and splashed it to the god's face.

"Jeez, do we have to pay for everything we do here? That requires a lot of money." – said Plasma, laughing lowly but everyone was startled the awkward sound coming from her. It was like humiliation to all of them. – "And the trees here took lots of place, don't you think we should remove some of them? If a kind needs a place on this planet, some of them must sacrifice."

That was when horrible screams and a stampede was heard coming from the Demeter cabin. The grasshoppers did their job well and two powerful hybrids weren't disappointed by the chaos they'd caused. Katie Gardner apparently wanted to strangle Percy just like Annabeth.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, JACKASS?" – She threw a spear at Percy but Plasma jumped into action from the distance. She focused on the weapon and it slowed down giving Percy time to transform Blaze and slay the spear into half.

Dead silence. Everyone held their breath at the sight Plasma slowing the spear down with a smile and her hand raising towards the object. Annabeth squeaked in disbelief. She pointed at the blue-eyed girl like she was a beast and stammered:

"WAIT, I KNOW there was something wrong about you! You're… you're…!"

"Wow, I feel so honored. Did I just make an Athena's child stutter and not know what to say? Percy, do you mind noting down this day?" – said Plasma sarcastically, eyeing Percy carefully to see if he could stand the show. He gave her a reassuring grin and replied:

"I'm sure that the world would remember this day to the end of time, kid!"

"IDIOT, she's a daughter of KRONOS! She can freeze time, are you blind?" – asked the Stolls, looking at the once cheerful son of Poseidon for a reasonable explanation of all this.

"Percy, child, you must come back to your senses. Do you know who this girl is?" – asked Chiron slowly and cautiously, pointing at Plasma with terror in his brown eyes.

"YEAH, did she convince you to change side or something? WAKE UP, MAN, that's a real threat you brought to camp!" – Piper tried to knock some sense into Percy's head.

"Wow, just like I thought, you guys always judge things by your poor knowledge. That's a shame. And the girl over there has a name you know." – stated Percy calmly like he was having tea with the British queen.

"Hey Percy, whatever you want to do, just finish quickly. We're about to be visited by some unfriendly people." – said Plasma with a hint of amuse in her voice.

"Percy, what the heck has happened to you? You defeated Kronos by your own hands. You've been through a bunch of crap to make sure his mother doesn't kill anyone. WHY are you siding with HER?" – asked Nico with fire burning in his eyes and voice. He didn't know what to say. Betray filled his brain; he wondered if Percy rescued him because he really wanted to or just because the monster who was standing side-by-side with Percy.

"My my, Nico, I thought at least you would be the one who reacts calmly with this since you're a son of Hades, but I really am mistaken." – sighed Percy, rubbing his hair in "disappointment". – "Looks like Zeus, Hera or to be exact, the Olympians have successfully put sh*t into your minds. I can't believe I served them, such a waste of my lifetime!"

"PERSEUS JACKSON, you have ONE second to apologize and take back everything you just said!" – Everyone shouted, their jaws dropped on the ground but too late, flashes of gold light appeared in thin air and the gods showed up with fury in their eyes. The sky darkened and the temperature dropped sharply.

"Oh well, I guess we have to greet our visitors now." – spoke Plasma with boredom, squeezing Percy's shoulder to comfort him.

"PERSEUS, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" – boomed Poseidon, the mighty god of seas.

"Oh sorry my _Lord_, I've just said the truths out loud for the world to hear and I'm sorry that those facts aren't as pretty as you want them to be." – replied Percy calmly, smirking at his father's surprised face.

"YOU MUST DIE, spawn of KRONOS/POSEIDON!" – announced Zeus and Athena, aiming their weapons at the two with pure will of kill in their auras.

"Huh, I think you could have treated your sister better than that, Zeus!" – said Plasma smugly with disgust in her voice. Now she understood why Percy's life was full of what-he-also-said.

Percy flinched a bit at the sentence, feeling weird that a young girl like Plasma was the oldest gods' sibling. It was abnormal but oh well, this was an immortal family we were talking about. Before anyone could speak out a word, the lightning bolt was flying towards Percy. No-one moved and Percy was frozen by the action. For the first time, Plasma knew what it was like to feel extremely _angry_.

"I DISLIKE MY CREATOR DEEPLY, BUT I CAN SEE WHY HE WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASSES SO BADLY!"

Her tied hair broke loose and flew in the blowing wind while her eyes turned into a glowing amber color. Percy was stunned at the incident and immediately jumped into action. The cold air now had just turned colder because of temperature drop, time froze while a pulse of aura radiated from Plasma made everyone's heads wanted to fly. The lightning bolt stopped dead track on its way and Percy quickly created a water barrier. He snapped:

"PLA… PEARL, SNAP OUT OF THIS!" – He hissed urgently, wrapping his arms around her torso.

The bad weather immediately stopped and the sound "BANG!" of a horrible explosion was heard, Zeus' lightning bolt hit the surface of Percy's water shield and it backfired to the cabins. It happened in a blink and luckily no-one was in its way. The Ares cabin caught the electric energy and burst into white flame while the other ones were damaged by the _ice _from Percy's barrier broke and crashed into the cabins. Everyone was shocked at the power the two teenagers just performed and Zeus felt the urge of throwing them into Tartarus as fast as possible. Before he could open his mouth, Percy and Pearl were already at the camp's gate with the pure hatred on their features. Percy said:

"You're lucky, Zeus! And _Poseidon_, DON'T EVER MESS UP WITH OTHER WOMEN LIKE YOU DID WITH SALLY JACKSON AGAIN! SHE'S SO STUPID FOR FALLING FOR SOMEONE LIKE **YOU**!" – Percy focused on the strength in his body and pulled a strong wave which blocked everyone's sight along with slowing them down from chasing them. Some gods began to flash to stop them from leaving but Plasma took out daggers and quickly threw them straight to the gods' eyes. Percy threw Riptide into the rising waves which were swallowing the campers.

"GET BACK HERE, JACKSON!" – Zeus shouted, shaking the air with lightning but the two were already taking out the red bloody ruby shard. Percy slain the shard into pieces with Blaze and they said loudly: "ALASKA!"

The people Percy Jackson had always considered as family and friends had just become his enemies to death. The worst part was done with an evil laugh coming from the Titan Lord.

**A/N: Okay, I've written this chapter in a bad mood so it could be quite bad. PLEASE give me some reviews, I really need them otherwise it would probably be discontinued! A long holiday is ahead so I'll try to update constantly. **


	10. The organized death of Perseus Jackson

A/N: ThankS for all your wonderful supports! I'm so glad that you guys find my story interesting. Well, there won't be many actions in this new chapter, but I hope you can hang on until the next one.

I really appreciate the time from **TheProtogenoiGreekMythology **and** luk31000 **for my story.

**TheProtogenoiGreekMythology **aka **AN**: Thanks for actually telling me what you think about the chapter for the first time. And you really have to try to stop posting too many reviews about random stuff, it's quite annoying. Here's the next chapter.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **Wow, I'm quite surprised that you actually enjoy the last chapter since I wrote it in a terrible mood! Yeah, there will be more arguments between these two; you know to ease the tension of the "game" because Percy's sarcasm is gold! Thanks for reading and here's the next chapter!

**Rock (Guest): **Thanks for your beautiful comment! I'm glad you like my story! Here's the next chapter.

**Huy: **Your grammar really needs to be checked because you made a horrible mistake in the last review but anyway, thanks for the praise. You don't have to wait any longer.

_To Sam, the most reliable friend._

**Chapter 10: **The organized end of Perseus Jackson

_Before I get into the main part of this chapter, I'd like to start with different people's Point of View about the previous one._

**Hestia's Point of View:**

Before we could celebrate Perseus' return, before his friends could spend some time with him after months being away, he had already left again, faster than I expected. It was sad. Everything was gloomy. A day had passed since Perseus' "rebel" and everyone was too stunned or angry to do anything about the surprised shocking unbelievable thing that the son of Poseidon had done, or to be exact, _had pretended to do_. The sky was shaken madly with violent flashing thunders coming from my power-thirst brother, Zeus. No-one dared to approach the coast these days anymore because of the sea's indescribable frustration; the water was completely gray. Everyone expressed their emotions by torturing these others; especially the powerful ones and the damages along with consequences were for the weaker to bear. When Perseus revealed his plan to me the day he brought Plasma Knight, my _youngest sister_ to camp, I had foolishly hoped that there might be a chance someone would doubt his actions when he pulled up the act, but no-one did…

Plasma Knight. I couldn't stop asking questions about that mysterious girl. She was my father's offspring with a _mortal_, something that was beyond my wildest imagination. He hardly ever got close to the living creatures beneath the Underworld let alone having relationship with a _mortal_, and that unbelievably strong and _daring _woman had survived long enough to give this child life. Despite the fact Plasma was a half-mortal; the power lied inside her was just as scary as father's himself. When I first observed her appearance, her actions, I'd thought she was daughter of a minor god, but when Percy told her to trust me (_convinced _would be closer to this situation), she showed me her power with time. My siblings, we didn't possess the power that our father had, but this _girl_, she had almost mastered it skillfully without passing out. _Flawlessly_, that was how she performed her power. During the conversation, I'd discovered that she had a shameful unacceptable lack of emotions. There were a few times she actually showed a bit of sadness, or agreement with some statements that Percy said, but the rest, completely blank. I'd decided to give her my blessing, which was something that I'd never done before. A part of me wanted to give Percy the same blessing as well, but fire and water wasn't a good combination in one individual. But I knew for sure that the opposite powers the two children possessed would not separate them in any way but would eventually form a closer relationship between them. To use my gift, Plasma must have strong emotions and I had faith in Percy that he was able to teach her that. I hoped that Nike would show mercy towards those daring selfless fighters…

**Annabeth's Point of View:**

I couldn't believe what had happened the previous day. It was utterly _impossible_, but it happened, right _in front of _our eyes, not to mention the gods'. Who _was _that boy who looked like Perseus Jackson? He couldn't be the caring, kind, carefree guy who saved Olympus months ago! But despite how illogical it was, that was Seaweed Brain who cursed the gods, destroyed the cabins and sided with our enemies _with Kronos' daughter_. He had also got away with all of those! I, of course, strongly agreed with my mother, the goddess of wisdom that Percy needed to be stopped, and I would take a big part in that mission. I hated him for ignoring me for that _monster_. I hated him for _humiliating _my honor. I'd make sure he learnt the most important lesson of his life: "You don't want to become the enemy of Athena and her children."

**Poseidon's Point of View:**

My mind was filled with tons of questions. Why? How? When? _Where? _After months spending time in Roman camp, Perseus came back and became a completely different person. First, he talked like a total mature adult and acted so calmly and collected. After that, he broke out of camp to rescue son of Hades then going back with… with a half-mortal, half-_titan _child who _happened _to be a daughter of **my father**. Was that my son? The one who sacrificed so much for Olympus, for Camp Half-blood, for friends? Was that Perseus Jackson, the savior of Olympus? He even threw away Riptide, his powerful trustworthy sword, a very precious gift I gave him! And he also called his own mother, Sally Jackson, a stupid person! What had happened? I couldn't believe anything! I, the god of the seas, refused to believe in any of this. No, this had to be a big mistake. But for now, I didn't have a _son_.

**Nico's Point of View:**

Destruction. That was what left of camp after Perseus Jackson took his leave with that daughter of Kronos, Pearl McKnight. Of all people on this planet, that son of Poseidon was siding with Gaea and her children. Where had the world come to? I didn't know what to think, or to do, or to feel. It was too fuzzy after the incident. When did Percy know how to create a _water barrier _that could fight against the gods? And that girl, she had no troubles _freezing _time in her young age. It must be our eyes fooling our eyes fooling our minds. It couldn't be real, it just couldn't. But then, Perseus Jackson, the son of Poseidon, savior of Olympus, slayer of countless monsters, a bunch of other titles, you name it, had done every impossible thing that this life threw at him and successfully got out of it _alive_, so all I could do now was accept the fact that he had _changed_. There were lots of buts. His fatal flaw was _loyalty_, and people lost count how many times he nearly got himself _killed _with that weakness, so how could he side with the enemies? There must be a reasonable explanation for the past few days, for this whole thing, this chaos of endless madness. People were losing themselves. I was losing it, too. I'd lost everything nearly, my sister, Bianca; my mother and my half-sister, Hazel was one of the seven and now Percy Jackson, the cousin who was a brother to me in everything but blood. Wait, I doubted that the seven could work together now since the most important member had switched side. So everything was unpredictable. Sitting in this place and doing nothing was definitely not the right thing to do, that was one thing I knew for sure but except that, I knew nothing. What was happening? Then I made a decision, I was going to find out _myself_. Perseus Jackson had to do a lot of explaining soon.

**Olympus:**

The council was sitting on their thrones at the 600th floor of Empire State Building. Their discussion was obviously about the incident that took place earlier at camp Half-blood. Saying that Zeus, Lord of the sky was furious wasn't even close to fact. He was ready to banish Perseus Jackson to Tartarus anytime and anywhere right then and there. He was berserk and shocked that a _demi-god _was able to survive his Lightning Bolt. The fact that he had a _sister _who was half-mortal was beyond any lousy fictions. The other Olympians were anxious at the threats they were in. The most powerful demi-god along with a strange new powerful figure who happened to be Zeus' sister was in Gaea's side and was on the way to destroy Olympus. They could never think of the day that Perseus Jackson went against his family and friends, ever. But it did, and they hadn't prepared for it. Actually, almost half of them did but they didn't expect that he was powerful enough to escape them. The gods had underestimated the son of Poseidon badly. Zeus boomed:

"We're gathered here today to discuss about two serious threats: Perseus Jackson son of Poseidon and the other one, known as Pearl McKnight, daughter of Kronos."

"He's NOT my son anymore, Zeus!" – shouted Poseidon, causing a small earthquake somewhere on Earth while Zeus rolled his eyes.

"Whatever Poseidon, you used to be…"

"DON'T even talk about it, Zeus. I'm not in the mood right now. Just get straight to the point."

"Fine, we have to track them down and make sure that they don't live long enough to accomplish their goals." – announced Zeus, looking around for any disagreement.

"But right now we don't even have a clue about their where-being, father. I think we don't need to do anything yet because they would surly come to us." – said Athena wisely, looking at Poseidon with an unreadable expression, something mixed between anger, sympathy and disdain?

"We can't wait, Athena. I refuse to let them have their move first." – protested Zeus immediately. – "We'll find them; no-one has ever hid from us for more than three days."

"You're right, father. My huntresses and I would make sure of that. We would bring Perseus Jackson and Pearl McKnight to their right place, specifically their heads." – stated Artemis with danger clear in her voice. No-one messed with her. Thalia had a strong determination of taking down the traitor whom she had called "cousin". Perseus Jackson must die.

* * *

**Percy's Point of View:**

"_HAH, I must say grandchild, it was the most fascinating play ever since the beginning of the universe! You two are surly good liars. You'll have a glorious destiny ahead of you if you join me."_

_I was surrounded the dark, and Kronos' voice was the only thing that I sensed. Getting stuck in my own mind was such a pathetic accident; my emotions must have become his advantages again._

"_Are you DEAF, grandpa? Or do you even understand language? The answer's NO and always be NO! Now LEAVE me alone!" – I growled._

"_Oh Perseus, don't you recognize the truth? You're already alone! Things are just like the way you planned, your foolish family and friends were tricked by the little play you pulled up! And this old titan must remind you, all you used were words coming from your mouth and you didn't even harm them yet but they've already known for sure that you've changed sides! Tell me, what kind of family is that?" – laughed Kronos and I could feel the smirk of satisfaction forming on his lips._

"_Of course they're turning against me, it's what I want!" – I hugged my head and shouted, but it sounded like I was persuading myself more than responding to his theory._

"_Oh really, grandchild? I'm in your mind. I know that a small part of you hoped that they won't buy the lies and instead recognize the truths before things even begin! Am I right, Perseus?"_

"_No, you're WRONG!" – declined Percy loudly, but he was unsure. Everything was confusing, crazy and totally __**insane**__._

"_You're not a dump demi-god, Jackson. I believe that you're wise enough to see the undeniable truth, that you're doing this for nothing. Loneliness is everything you have now. I guess I'll make sure…"_

"PERCY, it's over." – Something held me back before I went mad with Kronos. The darkness was fading away quickly and the voice was retreating to the back of my brain. But I refused to stuck in another dream.

"Grandpa, I'm NOT alone!" – I mumbled weakly, struggling against someone's hold on me.

"Stop it, we did it." – Her soothing voice comforted my soul again, and I gave in to her contact.

My heavy eyelids slowly opened and took in my surroundings. The cold air, the magical tent of Plasma, the softness of clothes, the gentle smell of her hair brought me back to reality. We were in Alaska, where the gods couldn't reach us. Even the temperature was low, there was sweat on my forehead and I was panting pathetically.

"Easy there, Percy. If you bleed anymore I'm afraid you won't have any blood left in your body." – She stated calmly, using a cloth to clean my cheeks gently and slowly.

What did she mean by…? That was when I realized the small tube with red liquid under my chin. I was about the open my mouth to ask when she answered my question:

"You're crying tears of blood again, Percy. We really need to work on your emotions."

"I agree." – I nodded lightly and had a closer look with the surrounding. There was a small fire next to us inside the tent and it was what kept the temperature comfortable. – "You made fire with stones?"

She was startled with my question which was weird. Making a fire wasn't something bad. I raised my eyebrow and thought of another way. It was awkward that she stared at me with an unreadable expression while I avoided her eyes to find an answer. It was just like the other evening when we talked to Lady Hestia about the next step of the plan. And… Wait a second… Lady Hestia. The goddess of Hearth had given Plasma's a blessing that night. Could this be…?

"Plasma, kid, did that fire come out of nowhere?"

Slowly she nodded and turned to another direction. Then she closed her eyes suddenly, focusing on something. I again experienced an unclear emotion but after a few seconds, it got stronger a bit and I could felt the intensiveness of it. Anger. That was it. I remembered the moment when Zeus threw his lightning bolt at me and Plasma lost it. She was absolutely furious when it happened that her powers got out of her reach, creating serious damages to the cabins. A change of air shook me out of our minds when flames came out of thin air. They landed gracefully and beautifully on Plasma's palm and danced happily. After that, Plasma hesitantly threw the flame down into the fireplace and the fire in it grew bigger. Without my notice, my jaw was dropped. Quickly closing it, I was beaming like a dreamer.

"That was brilliant, kid. Now we have another advantage."

"I don't like it, Percy. It's annoying." – She stood up and looked around mindlessly.

"How so, Plasma? It's a useful power. You could really use it in lots of things." – I told her softly, making her understand that she could ignore it if she wanted, but it was something that was worth to wield.

"I can't have it without having those weaknesses."

"You mean the emotions?" – I was confused at first, but then realization hit me.

Of course, Hestia's power or perhaps most powers required emotions to be unleashed strongly and successfully. And unluckily for Plasma, she wasn't the type who was okay with confusing feelings. But in this case, she needed them and for me, I needed to lock them in. We were having opposite problems.

"This is crap."

"Everything is, isn't it?" – She looked at me, trying to calculate how many more times I would say that "strange" word.

"I guess that statement only fits us, kid." – I sighed. – "How long was I out?" – The subject needed to be changed.

"A day; my creator pestered us right after you slain the fragment of ruby." – I made a face and she eyed me carefully, analyzing my expressions. – "In case you're wondering, we're a few miles away from a city called Ambler in Alaska."

"Oh, how do you know? Don't tell me that you've already swallowed an Atlas book during your time at camp." – I made a small joke, but it was unsuccessful since _camp _made me flinch.

"Discovering things won't hurt." – shrugged Plasma. – "I can feel the time zone changes. It's about four hours earlier here than in New York."

"Care to explain that, kid? I'm not a brain child."

"It means that it's about 9 a.m. in New York right now but here it's 5 a.m. on the _same day_." – She looked at me, trying to tell if I understood or not.

"Okay, that's weird. It's like travelling back in time, but time still goes on." – It was a dumb statement but Plasma nodded.

"You got that right." – Plasma faked a smile, I could tell since her eyes never went along with that smile. – "So we're good to go, right? I mean you, specifically." - She continued.

I wanted to ask her if she'd had any sleep since our leave but it was too obvious that her answer would be "I don't need to sleep". No time to waste and since Kronos was leaving me alone; we had to jump into actions as fast as possible.

"Right, so now we're safe from the gods for a while. No need to rush since this game is six months long. Our first priority is to make sure _nothing _goes wrong with my family and friends during this bet. So according to the plan, we need fake identities and appearances."

"That's not a big problem since they never know my real name to begin with so just call me Plasma from now on." – She said, with a hint of _pride_ in her voice.

"You really like that name, don't you kid?" – I asked smirkly but I felt warm inside; for likely the first time, someone approved my idea before it was pulled into action.

It was unexpected that she stared at me for a while like I said something wrong. An urge of apologizing hit me in the gut even I didn't know what mistake was but I did it anyway. Before the sound could escape my throat:

"What kind of question is that, dummy?" – The way her tone travelled through the air, it was like… she was actually an emotional girl.

"Where… did you… learn that, Plasma?" – I stammered, her question replayed in my mind over and over again.

"Ma told me that when I asked her something." – She tilted her head, looking at my stunned expression. It must be hard for her to see my confusion, too.

"Do you mind telling me what your question was, kid?" – I asked hesitantly, blinking my eyes to prevent myself from expressing guilt, but it was futile since if the emotion was strong enough, Plasma could easily feel it as well.

"_Why do I exist?" _– She answered, _absolutely _emotionlessly like she was explaining a very normal fact to me, but I could see a slight _hint _of hurt in her deep blue eyes. Despite the depth of them, I was willing to dive into that cliff to find out what was in it.

It was like an annoying thing sliced through my nerves, making me feels like I couldn't just _accept _that fact but needed to change it. Without receiving any visions from the little girl in front of me, I could imagine a little kid, still in her innocent age, asked her mother a four-word question. _Why do I exist?_ Before I realized anything, a felt my cheeks were warmed up by something. Spending time with Plasma was forming me into the person I was before I came to camp Jupiter, expressing myself freely, to her only at least. That salty water, why it always threatened to come out?

"Percy, what did I say?" – Oh crap, now she was worried about me.

"No Plasma, it was me who said _something_." – I wrapped her arms around her, lifted her up from the ground. Everything became light to me after the damn quest for Hera. – "Have you found the answer for that yet, kid?"

Again, the daughter of Kronos gave me a strange look. The freaky thing was she never betrayed anything that allowed me to predict what she might say or feel. Then again, that creep smile from her lips again, but there was something in the eye. Stubbornness, strength and the will to fight, surprisingly, the sparkling light of playfulness was in there as well.

"You already gave me the answer, Percy."

"I did?" – Quickly I changed my expression into a joking one, but the inside was still completely gloomy. I didn't remember having a similar conversation with her. Surly I talked to her a lot, more than I used to do with Annabeth since Plasma never judged me for anything I said.

"Just ask the question, hero." – She planted her hand on my shoulder, squeezed it.

I was about to object the nickname _hero _but I knew that wasn't what she wanted to hear. I didn't even know what she even wanted me to ask. Sometimes I wished I had just one billionth of Athena's brain, but based on what happened for the past few years, the reason I survived was that my brain was different from the others, and also my heart. And Plasma was with me because the same reason, she was nothing like normal people out there, even demi-gods. After all, Kronos was however right, but not completely. It was supposed to be _**we **_were alone, NOT _**I**_ was alone. And _**we **_here meant Plasma and I.

"Why do _we _exist?" – Four words got out of my throat, loudly and clearly, strongly and surly.

"To _fight_, to _sacrifice_, to _die_."

It surprisingly made sense.

**A/N: There you go, the tenth chapter! There might be more actions in the next chapter, but you have to read to find out! Thank you for everyone who reads and leaves reviews! The most IMPORTANT thing to do after read this chapter is REVIEW! Have a nice week, folks!**


	11. I become the world's pain in the ass

**A/N: Chapter 10 has received amazing supports from you, folks and for that, I'm grateful. The holiday I mentioned about earlier came later than I expected so I wouldn't be posting faster any time soon, but as long as I don't abandon this story, it will be okay, right?**

Special thanks to **leadsea**, **MarieSeleneArroyo **and **misteriosayuri **for favoring and following my story.

**Huy: **I appreciate your review for every chapter, but you don't have to if you don't want to. I know you'll always read whenever I post. If you review, try to at least share some of your thoughts about the chapter because I'm tired of the praises from you! But not that I don't enjoy being praised, just don't praise me for some uncertain reasons. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, Snow White!

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **You're an awesome reader and I'm really glad you still spare some time for my story. Hestia is somewhat like you said, a back-up, to hold the gods' and campers' back and buy the two more time, but also the key to the truth. People always say every secret will be revealed, sooner or later so Hestia is the way in. About the last line, thanks for the compliment; it's one of the main purposes of my life. Enjoy the new chapter.

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **Yeah, chapter 9 is sulked with sarcasm. I wanted to make bigger jokes but something tells me not to waste too much time on unimportant details. I'm glad you like it since I expected that chapter to be bored because of my bad mood while writing it. About Plasma's ability to express emotions, her feelings will develop slowly after different situations during the journey with Percy. He'll teach her to use her emotions for Hestia's power while she'll help him to keep his under control. So you don't have to worry, Plasma will smile genuinely in a few chapters. Enjoy the new chapter.

**Misteriosayuri: **Thanks for your review.

**Warning:**

**There will be a character that came from a TV show. He'll only appear once just because I want to, so if you have a problem with that, well, try your best to deal with it. So of course, I don't own him.**

**I had a really horrible week with mountains of homework so please understand if the chapter isn't as good as you expected. Thanks for reading.**

**Disclaimer: **This website is called fanfiction for a reason, you know! No-one owns anything except the plot so yeah, I don't own Percy Jackson.

**Chapter 11: **I become the world's pain in the ass

**Percy's Point of View:**

Weak light of candles was the first thing sneaked into my sight. My numb mind recalled what happened an hour ago. Sapphire Knight must have been in a very strong force of fighters to have super-insane magic stuff to pass to her daughter. In order to _fit _in, we changed our appearance by wearing each of us a piece of jewel contained one other's blood. After a small discussion, we agreed to wear them as necklaces hiding underneath our clothes. Horrid began right after the jewel hit our flesh but neither of us moved a muscle or said a word because if we did just a bit we would probably end up crying like newborns. I was glad that it only hurt the first time and if I took it out and put it on again, it wouldn't. Plasma never tried this memento before so she didn't know what we would have to go through before our appearances changed so she insisted to test it first then I could do it later if nothing horrible happened, but I disagreed since we were literally stuck together now and if anything _did _happen, we would both suffer the consequences. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and slowly approached the mirror like it was some kind of threat. Without realizing that I was already holding my breath, I thought that my heart stopped beating when the image of a boy in the mirror hit my eyes.

"Wow." – Was all came out of my mouth.

_He _was real but seemed unreal. The teenager in the mirror had messy brown hair combined with a little blazing red of flame. His skin was pale but he didn't look fragile; _he _was somewhat scary and mysterious. Even though confusion was ruling his face, he didn't look silly at all but utterly mature. His stunning blue eyes bored into mine while my fingers made its way to the surface of the mirror. That was when I snapped out of my trance and composed myself to deal with the fact that the figure in the mirror was _me_. Despite the fact that my eye color had changed, there was still a hint of sea-green in them if you looked at it closely and carefully. I had inherited all of Plasma's special features. Wait… so thoughtful was I. The first thing I should have done when I regained consciousness was supposed to be looking for Plasma, not sticking my eyes onto the mirror! But before I could start panicking, footsteps were heard from behind my back. Silly wonders started to enter my mind. What if my features ruined her look? What if she was uncomfortable with my features on her? Before I could think of more silly thoughts, my jaw dropped. Plasma was… marvelous. My features on her didn't ruin her look; instead she looked fine, _more than fine_. Her smooth long hair was jet black. Her skin was tanned, like mine originally. I didn't expect they looked _that_ _good _on her, like she was born like that but of course, her real features were still breath-taking. However, Plasma's eyes weren't like mine. The color had changed; yes; but it wasn't like my imagination. I supposed it was because her blue eyes were something so special and unique that they didn't want to be changed completely, so the deep blue was still there, but the color green did have a part in those orbs. Her eyes, they were turquoise. Surprisingly, she looked older as well, about fifteen, almost sixteen.

"You look nice." – She stated slowly, trying to add some emotions in it but it was forced so it didn't work.

But it meant a lot to me however. Annabeth's pride had prevented her to speak out her thoughts about my appearance so she never really said anything. I smiled at her and replied:

"You're incredible as always, kid. Always unique you are, Plasma."

"So are you ready to go?"

I was taken by surprise. She had the knack of changing subjects faster than lightning struck. Her turquoise eyes looked at me patiently for an answer. We'd been practice a lot for the next step of this game and well, it was tiring but I couldn't complain. It could have been worse. I was able to water-travelling but of course this ability was very limited and if I used it too much, I could end up being a puddle of water.

"Yes" – and with that, we cleaned everything up in a few seconds.

* * *

It took me a few hours to recover from the travel and I was frustrated realizing that Plasma was drained too due to the fact that she gave me energy to summon enough water. It could have been much easier if my… Poseidon taught me, but I had no choice and I might do it better on my own, I guess. Back to New York we were. Actually, _I _was back and it was Plasma's first time in a modern city. She took it pretty well, like she did with every new experience I threw to her and I vowed that someday, I'd surprise her with something shocking, but of course, not too shocking.

Now you must all think going back to New York was the most idiotic move but to me, it was worth trying. Reluctantly, Plasma let me put off the necklace so that I could turn into my real form again; I was going to see a mortal friend who could help us with the fake identities. After an awkward conversation, we finally executed the plan. The friend we were looking for was a few years older than me, but he just simply enjoyed staying at school to never face real life so he always asked to stay for another year and study a new major. Cameron. I never remembered his last name, but there was one thing I remembered the most: He was an elite hacker and he could get you any type of information on top-classified computers. We were heading to the library, where Cameron made "appointments" with clients. Plasma and I wore casual clothes of mortals and we surprisingly looked just like any normal citizen on a workday. Silky black hair was tied into a cute ponytail with bangs covering her forehand, my little kid looked breath-taking in skinny jeans and a tight brown top. I simply put on the clothes I used to wear to school so Cameron could easily recognize me. We managed to "borrow" a great amount of money from the bank to pay for stuff and our small business with the hacker so hopefully, things wouldn't be so complicated, as long as we got out of the city quickly enough.

"Well, still doing big business I see, Cammy!" – I sat down on a chair next to the hacker, who was staying fully focused on his laptop.

"Hey, haven't seen you a while, man. Get into new troubles I guess?" – replied the other boy but his eyes didn't leave the screen and his fingers were typing non-stop.

"Yeah, I don't need to invite them though. I made a new friend so troubles are worthy." – I grinned and patted on Plasma's shoulder and she waved at Cameron:

"Hi, how's it going?" – Exactly like the script, her acting was flawless. Cameron got his eyes away from the screen and stared at her with wide eyes.

"With a gem like this girl I think you should get into fewer troubles, buddy! What's your name, honey?"

"Hey hey, don't mess up with her, Cam! And she's more than a gem." – I protested, chuckled lowly under my breath.

"Alright, back to business. Something tells me this isn't a pleasant visit, is it?"

"Can we do this somewhere more private?" – Plasma cut us off seriously, and her voice told Cameron and me not to argue so we nodded.

I didn't hesitate to order a private room in a fancy coffee shop that I never thought I'd have a chance to set my foot in. New experiences would need to be got used during this time and I guess eating somewhere luxurious was only the start. It wasn't excited I felt – it was more like… jumpy and wondering

"Okay, so what do you two need? I'll make sure things go right." – Cameron had paid more concern after Plasma decided to emphasize the importance of this business by insisting doing it in a hidden spot.

"We need IDs and passports, papers which are needed to rent a flat, go to university, get a job, travel, stuff like that, I'm sure you know them better than anyone." – I spoke clearly and slowly, took a sip of my smoothies

"Cameron, we need them fast, too. I mean like as quick as possible." – added Plasma sweetly, making it hard for the hacker to stay focus.

"Gosh, you're impossible! Demand me to make illegal papers in a blink of eye? What am I, a sorcerer?" - He frowned with a disbelief look on his face.

"Duh, you're a sorcerer of computers, Cam!" - I reasoned with him. - "Oh please! We really NEED them! You have no idea!" - His face chagned.

"Right, I know what I need to do. The problem is I need…"

"We have money. How much do you want?" – I quickly cut him off but received a frown.

"Not money, dummy. You guys must be in some big troubles to ask for something like IDs so let's not discuss about that right now!" – He snapped, earning an apologetic smile from me. – "I need the information to fill in the IDs, especially the photos of you two!"

"Photos are already taken care of." – Plasma handed me the photos of our fake appearances and I passed them to Cameron. He observed them carefully and stated:

"They don't look like…"

"That's the point. Don't worry, just give us what we need and we'll take care the rest." – I reassured him.

"Who are you trying to outrun, huh?" asked Cameron curiously, not like he was afraid. His line of job was illegal itself.

"Family." – The answer was as simple as that sadly.

At his, the hacker's face changed.

"You two have my sympathy." – He sighed, patting my on my shoulder and smiled warmly at Plasma. – "It's going to be fine in the end, you know, whatever you two are dealing with."

"I truly hope so." – nodded Plasma, eyeing me intensely and I gulped.

Cameron let out a nervous chuckled, replaying his not-so-peaceful childhood; it was good to know that in some way, he understood just a small bit of the crap we were in.

"I need two days; then this place, same time; you'll get your papers." – He guaranteed surly, looking at me in the eye.

"We can't ask for more, Cammy. You're the best. Just try to be on time for us." – I smiled gratefully, punching his back lightly.

"That's what people always tell me!"

"Thanks, Cam. We'll make it up for you later." – Plasma gave him an awkward hug and stood up.

Cameron was at first confused at the weird gesture, but then he chuckled and shook his head.

"I know emotions are kind of annoying, honey, but try to get used to them. You're going to need it."

We wide-eyed stared at him. Was that some god messing up with us? It was too much for a coincidence. Plasma titled her head at the hacker and nodded:

"I'll seriously try."

With that, we left the coffee only to be greeted with disaster a few miles away. The hunters were here.

**Plasma's Point of View:**

The business turned out fine, more than I thought. But things were never easy on neither of us. I wrapped Percy's arms and pushed him to the back of big thick bush.

"Isn't that…?" - But he cut me off. – "Yup, Artemis and her huntresses."

"No, someone else! Another kid, with the power of Hades!" – I hissed.

"DAMN it! Nico Di Angelo, why haven't I thought of him and Mrs. O'Leary?" – Percy grumbled in frustration. I didn't miss the guilt filling in his green eyes.

"We need to cover our scents after this." – I muttered in annoyance. No matter how careful we prepared, there was always a flaw.

"Well, we need to survive this first. Any ideas, Plasma?" – He asked me, putting on his necklace but I stopped him.

"No, they've already known we're here. We'll fake our features when we've settled down, but not now."

"Okay, but we're outnumbered! The huntresses are very skillful fighters and they can hunt down anyone." – Percy warned me and copied me observing our tails.

"Divide and Conquer." – I calculated our chance to succeed, not so high, like usual.

"What does that supposed to mean?" – He asked with a hint of depression in his voice. Bows, arrows and Percy never went on the same track.

"Just forget about it." – I sighed; his face was filled with confusion.

Never giving a straight answer, that was what I always did. I wanted that if unluckily, I couldn't follow him anymore, he could survive on his own just fine. His problem was simple: self-underestimation. He depended on plans too much even though he refused to follow Annabeth Chase's plans back at the camp. To me, survival instincts were sharper if we trained them hard and believed in them strongly. Plans were written down, strategies were open books, and the enemies could easily guess our moves. Our instincts were more flexible; they changed based on the situations, the conditions, how bad things got.

"I'll try, kid. So I'll be the…"

"No, I'll be the bait. No arguments." – My voice had finality in it so he didn't protest. – "Quickly retreat to the park where there's a lake we passed through earlier and wait for me there. Can you do that?"

"Will _you _be okay?" – He gritted his teeth, gripping my arm strongly.

"Both of us will be, when they leave us alone." – I gave him a forced wink and sneaked into another bush. I looked forward to get out of this in one piece. Weird.

**Nico's Point of View:**

Mrs. O'Leary never made mistakes before in this. She could track down anyone just with a little scent and I believed in her. Percy Jackson was in New York. It was weird that if he wanted to stay away from the gods and work for Gaea he would have stayed in Alaska. I knew he did stop by that place since at first, Mrs. O'Leary teleported there, but then she dragged me back here. The huntresses and Lady Artemis followed me since they knew how close the hellhound and Percy was. Thalia had an ill will to slay Percy's head off for betraying his family and friends, but to me, something _wasn't _right. Helllooo? This was _Perseus Jackson _we were talking about, the demi-god who plunged to his deaths countless times without second thoughts to save his family and friends, so how could he change his perception in two weeks? What I needed from his was a proper talk, a logical explanation, oh great, now I sound like an Athena child. Anyway, Mrs. O'Leary was waving her tail fast, which meant he was near, really near.

"Hey guys, I think she gets him!" – I gathered the huntresses' attention.

Thalia let out a growl and held her bow tighter that her knuckles turned white. I soooo didn't want to be Percy right now. But suddenly, a figure snapped me out of my thoughts. That smell, I knew it. Daughter of Kronos. She was sulked with fire from Tartarus so I couldn't be mistaken with anyone else.

"Lady Artemis, Thalia, daughter of Kronos, two o' clock!"

Their heads snapped towards the direction I just spoke and their eyes were on fire. Artemis told her huntresses to surround the area so there was no escape. But like Percy, I had a feeling that she had a knack of doing the impossible.

"DAMN IT! PERCY!" – The girl shouted, dodging arrows from the huntresses, mainly from Thalia.

"YOU MONSTER, you took Percy away from us! You'll PAY!" – Thalia's eyes were like lightning. I joined the chase.

"I'm sorry, niece! I don't have any cash on me!" – She replied with a mocking tone, driving the huntresses mad. Percy must have taught her the art of "How to annoy gods and powerful beings in half a second."

To say she was a skilled fighter wasn't quite right. She was a _demon_. Arrows were known as the fastest thing after lightning of course, and the daughter of Kronos didn't seem to be tired avoiding the blasts from Artemis. Instead, she even fought back by arrows! It was funny, like Artemis and her huntresses' arrows were backfired, and we ran like crazy across the traffic jams on the street. The small girl easily jumped on the top of cars and trucks, while we had hard time staying away from public transportations. I jumped on Mrs. O'Leary and she darted towards the girl. Swing my sword, I attempted to slash through her legs to stop the endless chase, but instead she dodged the attack by doing a blurring somersault making me lost my balance and stumbled forward.

"It's a shame that they don't teach you how to run properly at camp!" – The girl was doing a good job boiling our blood.

What happened next rendered our jaws drop. While keep running madly, she took out a rope from her jacket and threw it on a pillar on a roof and pulled the rope fully spread to check the strength. In a blink of eye, she swung onto the roof and landed at the other side of the neighborhood.

"GIRLS, SPLIT UP, GATHER TOGETHER AT THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD!" – Artemis boomed, she was just like Zeus.

I had a bad feeling. It was confirmed when we saw no-one at the other street which leaded to a dead end, but their scents were still fresh. Mrs. O'Leary started sniffing again; she missed Percy although she didn't know that he might never ride her again. We were near a park with a small lake in the middle of it. Wait a second, a lake?!

"Hello Ladies!" – SHIT!

We were surrounded with water, and it formed into walls around us. Thalia shot arrows only having them cracked when hit the _ice _wall. I stayed focus on shadow-travelling and when I got out the water immediately pushed me back inside.

"YOU'RE A COWARD!" – Artemis shouted in frustration, glaring daggers at Percy who was standing side-by-side with daughter of Kronos.

"What the hell is happening to YOU, PERCY?" – I asked, my throat felt like it was blocked by something. And Hades, hot water threatened to get out of my eyes!

"Ask the Olympians that question, Di Angelo!" – Damn, I hated it when he said my last name! I missed his voice when he said "Nico". Wait a second! He was no longer my friend!

"What do you mean by that, pig?" – asked Phoebe, a huntress.

He just laughed and left. Poseidon better got his ass over here quickly.

**A/N: Alright, it's your job now guys! I'll try to write a better chapter next time (if this chapter doesn't satisfy you).**

**Okay, so I have different ideas for Plasma and Percy's journey. I need votes:**

**1) They stay in a small town or village near New York and try to be normal teenagers while struggling to keep Kronos under control.**

**2) They travel around and team up with a minor god (or titan) to defeat the Giants. There's a flaw in Percy's oath.**

**3) They travel back to Tartarus and make new friends (OOCness and surprises)**


	12. Denial isn't healthy

**A/N: I'm very grateful for your amazing support for my story! It's been a hellish week again, unfortunately since the teachers have already informed us about the middle tests of the second semester. But great news is: My fifteen-day holiday starts next Friday so I can spend more time writing!**

Special thanks to **spawn8812, Azeael, Jade-Queen of Fantasy **and** DaughterofNeptune24 **for following and favoring my story!

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **Thanks for reading again. Don't mind the OOC, he only appeared once; a friend of mine requested me to put him in and it was her birthday so I granted her wish. Also thanks for voting. Enjoy this chapter and there's more about this vote at the end of the chapter.

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **Your review is one of the things that urge me to update the most, so thanks, and also I appreciate your vote. There are many different ideas and preferences from different readers so it's hard to decide, but of course, I'll make up my mind. Enjoy the chapter.

**Huy: **You don't have to be sad because you can't give me a review but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate your effort trying to read my story. Anyway, heads up for the new chapter!

**Jade-Queen of Fantasy: **Thank you for your review. I like how you vote, very… differently from the others. I'm kind of interested in your idea for their next move and considering to lead it that way. The other demi-gods will have their suspicious about the truth and Zeus will be paranoid a always. Thanks for reading and enjoy the new chapter.

**AN: **I can see that you're into your favorite manga series these days so if you don't like to read my story anymore, just give a straight answer, don't make it unclear. But I appreciate your vote and we'll see what happens next.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson series. Rick Riordan does.

**Chapter 12: Denial isn't healthy**

**Third person's point of view:**

To say Poseidon was stunned when he saw Percy's barrier around the huntresses wasn't at least close judging his reactions. It took quite a long time for the Sea God to pick up his jaw and started to break the ice wall.

"Tell me how _he _did this again, son of Hades?" – asked Poseidon while concentrating on the water.

"Lord Poseidon, we'll have a detail conversation about this later, because right now, I need you to HURRY UP!" – Thalia was berserk. She couldn't believe that a boy and a kid just outran the huntresses.

"Something's blocking me from breaking down this thing around you." – Poseidon groaned in frustration. He didn't believe Hermes at first when the God of Messages appeared and informed him about the "accident".

"What do you mean?" – growled Artemis, banging her fist in futile to at least cause a little crack on the ice wall. – "You can't free us?"

"Guys, I think we should let Lord Poseidon think and solve this slowly." – said Nico tiredly.

"You have NO right to tell us what to do!" – exclaimed a huntress with pure hatred in her voice.

Nico sighed heavily at the grudge that the girls held against boys. It was just simply stupid.

Suddenly, a crack was heard and the girls stopped complaining. The "prisoners" held their breath and looked at their "cage" in order to find a slight break. Nothing.

"Nico, can't you just shadow-travel us all out?" – hissed Thalia, her electric blue eyes were glowing deadly.

"Thalia, how many times do I have to tell you that it's too narrow here? Mrs. O'Leary can't even stand comfortably!" – protested the son of Hades, shifting his depression on the water that was surrounded him by kick it.

_Stupid son of Poseidon! Why did he turn against us? _– thought Nico. – _Why did he do this to __**his family**__?_

"What the HADES is wrong with this damn thing?" – Poseidon gritted his teeth impatiently, focusing more but all he could do was making the water wavering.

"I swear Perseus Jackson will be very sorry for ever being born when we got out of this thing!" – announced Artemis.

"Wait, why don't we try Greek fire?" – advised a huntress near Nico, examining the barrier with disgust.

"Yeah, why haven't we thought of it earlier?" – Artemis clapped her hands together and took out the green little bomb. – "You might want to step back a little bit, Uncle."

Poseidon muttered under his breath and said:

"Fine, but we'll do this together. On three: one… two…"

"THREE!" – boomed Artemis with fury, strong will to get out of the hell hole she was in.

"God DAMN IT, are you NUTS?" – Nico shouted before the bomb hit the ground and then…

It happened in a flash. Poseidon forced all his powers to the task and the barrier crumbled under his effort while the Greek fire supported in burning down the ice wall. But right when the water retreated to the ground surrendering to the fierce flame, a horrible explosion reaped the air of the park apart causing everyone's eardrums wanted to explode. Mrs. O'Leary shielded Nico and reluctantly the huntresses during the incident while Poseidon stared at the whole thing in shock. White smoke covered their sight and a hiss clashed their whimpering ears as they came back to their senses. _Fire_. The barrier that Percy trapped them in had vanished **but** a thick wall of blood red fire was dancing around them.

"Okay, WHAT the hell does this mean?" – cried Thalia with terror and anger.

"It means we're screwed." – answered Nico exhaustedly receiving a whack from Artemis.

The son of Hades was pissed off and tired of this intensely. He wanted to punch the huntresses in their faces, shout at Poseidon and look at Percy in the eye right after he found his sorry ass and demand for a reasonable explanation for this madness. The kid missed old times, during and after the Titan War when Percy was a carefree, idiotic guy who was always following Annabeth, messing up with the Ares kids and especially teasing him and Thalia. What exactly _happened_? Suddenly, he got dizzy as a voice spoke softly and warmly in his mind:

"_You can't restrain water neither conquer fire, Nico di Angelo."_

The son of Hades shut his eyes tightly while rubbed his messy hair. He knew that motherly tone. Hestia was trying to tell him something but he was completely clueless. It was damn frustrated that it was a trait of Percy, his _ex_-cousin. His black eyes looked at the fire around him with wonder and silently prayed to Hestia, asking for a clearer instruction.

"QUIET!" – He shouted, and surprisingly, everyone shut their mouths but glared daggers at him. – "Hestia's trying to tell me what to do, so do you mind giving some TIME?"

They hesitantly nodded, while Poseidon grumbled:

"This isn't normal fire, son of Hades. I doubt that…"

"Just leave it, Uncle." – hissed Artemis, her silver eyes flared up.

"_Fire and water are working together." _– humming Hestia warmly. –_"What is it you really want?"_

Nico was utterly confused. He couldn't restrain water neither conquer fire. They were working together. What? Why was it just as confusing as a prophecy? He couldn't win them, so it was foolish to fight water and fire. And _what __**did **__he really want? _What did _fire _and _water_ stand for?

"Well, hurry up, Nico!" – said Thalia urged impatiently, stamping her feet on the ground.

"Everyone, hold hands together. We're getting _out _of here." – declared Nico clearly and determinedly.

"Wait, does that mean two of us have to hold _your _hands?" – growled Artemis, daring him to say _yes_.

"Do you want to get out or _not_?" – Nico shot back, his voice was as cold as his father making everyone flinched. – "I don't have germs or bacteria on my clothes so you'll survive touching my clothes. Just put your hands on my shoulders so that we're connected!"

Artemis and her huntresses cursed themselves for getting into this situation at first place but Thalia and Artemis still put their hands on the kid's shoulder.

"I, Nico Di Angelo, wish to not fight fire and water and know why they are working together!"

He took a deep breath and stepped into the dancing flame. The fire brushed his skin gently; it felt warm like a quilt before disappeared in thin air. Right after that water rose and turned into little drops flowing in the air beautifully like a scene in the fairy tale. It was cool and refreshing, but the sensation when the drops touched your skin felt exactly the same as fire. A blink of eye, both elements tied to each other and exploded gently in sunlight.

Nico di Angelo was going to _not _fight fire and water and discover why they were working together.

**Percy's Point of View:**

It was a miracle we survived the attack two days ago. Plasma and I were doing great, with everything required. Fake identities, check. Cameron wished us luck which both of us really appreciated even knowing that luck never smiled to us. We gave him some cash, but he just took half of it saying that he only took the amount he deserved. With that, we farewell and got back to our path.

Right now we were on a train, travelling out of New York. It was foolish to get back but I didn't regret however. Silent ruled the cabin we were sitting in since Plasma was staring at the window with wide eyes.

"Enjoy the trip, kid?" – I decided I'd start first since she wasn't the emotional one.

"This thing is called train, you mentioned earlier?" – Her voice was empty, which meant she was being herself.

"Yes."

"Mortals are more than just powerless creatures."

"That's right." – I frowned at the word _creatures_.

"It's nice out here."

"I'm glad you find it nice." – I smiled, scanning her face. Her tanned skin looked lovely in the red light of sunset. It was funny that my features were so good on her.

"What's your favorite place? Camp Half-blood?" – She asked, admiring the fields and mountains we were passing by.

"It was a safe place. But I love the people in there more than I love the place." – Automatically using past tense was quite distressing. – "I love Montauk beach."

"Memorial place?"

"Definitely." – I smiled sadly, trying to recall what it was like to be there.

"Want to go there _now_?" – Her turquoise eyes caught mine, and I immediately lost in their endless depth.

"What do you mean like _now_?" – I smirked, avoiding her eyes. – "I don't want us to get caught."

"You might never have a chance again."

There, she said it, loud and clear, without pity. I wanted to hear that. The truth. No-one would ever tell me straight away like:

"_Dude, you're dying. Want to have a drink before it all ends? I bet it'll be fun!"_

"And we might not have a chance to accomplish this. Finish this game, and we'll have the rest of our lives going anywhere we want." – I reasoned with her.

She looked at me strangely, like trying to analyze what kind of person I was. I wondered if she found anything special.

"The rest of our lives are for the game, Percy. This _is _already the rest."

"So you have 100% sure that we'll die, end of story." – I chuckled at the ironic conversation.

"It's reality." – Plasma replied plainly.

"We're out of the Fates' reach for some time right now, so we can probably decide whether it's reality or not." – I shot back.

"So what do you suggest doing?"

It was a question of challenge. My nerves melted when she shot the question with _that _voice, so curious and innocent.

"Go anywhere, do anything except visit the places that might get us caught."

"Do you have any godly friends?" – Was this subject-changing?

"Well, if you ask for godly enemies, there are plenty of them. But friends? I won't even dream about it." – I said sarcastically.

"Hestia's okay with you." – She stated. Why was I so forgetful?

"She can't help us now. Well, she did, didn't she? And you hate her gift."

"I don't hate it. It doesn't _like _me." – She corrected me, staring at her hand.

"Trust me, if you give it a chance, it'll like you just fine." – I chuckled at her statement. – "Didn't you use it to back my barrier up few days ago?"

"I don't want to talk about that."

"Why, because you feel something?" – I asked angrily, why were emotions such a big deal?

"I guess so."

I wanted to give her a speech, but it was no use except raising the tension of the game; I decided to make it simple.

"Emotions aren't bad. Give them a chance."

Plasma stood up and looked out the window.

"I have a bad feeling." – Uh-oh. – "We have to get out of here, now."

"What is it?" – Damn it, already another one? – "Which god, I mean?"

But before any of us could say anything else, the train stopped. Okay, what kind of trouble were we in now?

"A god's helping them to find us."

"Can you tell me what _they _are?" – I asked urgently while both of us put on our backpacks hurriedly.

"A satyr and three demi-gods are on the train. A god sensed power radiating from the station."

I decided that I didn't want to know the exact names but the only god who could actually sense power coming from me was Poseidon. I really didn't want to face-to-face with him right now so we calmly walked towards the entrance of the train but knowing my rotten luck, we braced ourselves for the worst to come.

"Oops, I'm sorry!" – Someone said after bumped into me.

I nearly let out a gasp when I saw Hazel's sad face, but I nodded and continued walking. The necklaces did their jobs well.

"Excuse me; did you see these two teenagers?" – The voice of Annabeth Chase hit my ears. Damn it, life sucked!

Plasma was fast, she knew I had issues dealing with relationships; especially something involved a certain daughter of Athena.

"Are they criminals or something?" – Concern, curiosity and a little sympathy in her voice, perfect.

"Yeah, sort of. Did you see them?" – Her voice was full of hatred. I tightened my hold around Plasma's fingers; she squeezed back and went on talking.

"No, I'm sorry. Were they your friends?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Well, just the boy actually. I still can't believe that he has…" – Annabeth choked up, rendered me frozen. I wanted everything to stop, Annabeth was _hurt_.

"Who's the girl then?" – Did Plasma really have to ask the damn question?

"She's a terrorist who's stolen him from me, from us!" – Annabeth replied with venom, her grey eyes were like a storm. – "I supposed she's his new girlfriend!"

WHAT? I wanted to decline the statement immediately, to tell her otherwise but neither of us spoke. Plasma looked at me, like she wanted to see something. Without thinking, I smiled and she copied me.

"I'm sorry but good luck with that search. We have to go now, looking for the food trolley."

Annabeth nodded and ran down the hall the opposite direction. Plasma and I got out of the train right after that and ran with our fastest speed. Unlike training at camp, right now I felt like I could run eternally and never turn back, leave everything behind. When we found a place to camp, kid and I didn't talk until nightfall and like usual, Plasma insisted on taking the first guard and we'd have the same argument every night. Finally, I could persuade her to get in the tent with me after we created barriers around our tent which was camped in a meadow with high grass growing around. I wished I never had to go to sleep… My mind was filling with the words Annabeth told us on the train. Was that what people thought, that Plasma was my girlfriend? Seriously, I thought they were smarter than that! Plasma was surly pretty, yes, she was kind and accepting, yes, unique, hell yes, but I was in love with those? Hell NO! I respected her personality and loved the way she treated… WHAT?

"Plasma?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think Aphrodite can control you?"

"You mean the Goddess of Love?"

"Yeah."

"No, she can't. No-one knew about my existence, or anything about my blood. It's different."

"Does that mean if I'm tied to you, she'll lost control over…?"

"Yes, she doesn't have a say in your relationships any longer."

"That's good, right?"

"Good and bad, Percy. Always both." – I decided not to question that.

"So I can like… control my own feelings and stuff now?" – I asked excitedly.

"Yes, you decide now, not her." – I could feel a smirk on her face even though it was dark.

"That's terrific." – I commented. – "Anyway, good night kid."

"Good night."

I was sure that most of you knew how crazy my sleep could be due to the dreams I had, but now not only dreams, but a person to argue with.

"_So Jackson, still doing good huh? – Kronos and his evil laugh._

'_Thanks for your concern, gramps. How's my head?' _

'_Horrible. Your mind is full of rubbish and filth, demi-god.'_

'_Cleaner than yours.'_

_I felt him snarling under his breath but instead a force of power crashed me._

'_I really don't understand why you let my spawn travel with you and stay loyal to those Olympian bugs.'_

'_Because your skull is empty and you don't have a heart.'_

'_Watch your mouth Jackson. I __**do **__have a heart, and it beats stronger than yours. I'll crush you in the end.' _

'_Why am I not surprised?' – I smirked. – 'If you do have one, prove it.'_

'_If I didn't have a heart, the girl who's with you right now wouldn't have known what life is.'_

'_Trust me; she wants to not know what life is, thanks to you.' – I sighed, thinking about how demonic she was. – 'You're just like Gabe.' – I mumbled to myself._

'_I don't drink stupid wine and I smell better than that asshole.' – Kronos objected my words, surprising me._

'_You know who Gabe is?' – I was quite stunned that the Lord of Time would bother to carry that information._

'_Pay some respect and attention in that stupid centaur's stories, Jackson. Titans and gods know things.'_

'_That doesn't make you remember those things you know.'_

'_Make sense, but I'm in your useless mind, aren't I?' _

'_Yes, yes, you are, gramps.' – I tried to hide my ridiculous emotions so he wouldn't have the satisfaction of manipulating me._

'_Back to our conversation, what do you think of the Sap… that so-called spawn of mine?'_

'_Were you about to say Sapphire's daughter?' – I said smugly, waiting for a reaction._

'_Answer the question, boy!'_

'_Sorry, gramps. I'm the host; I don't take orders from guests.'_

'_I'll show you…'_

'_Flowers and ribbons, cotton candy and caramel ice cream?' – I thought of bright things on Earth and Kronos nearly crushed my brain cells with his anger._

'_Go ahead and enjoy yourself, __**grandson**__. You're no better than us, son of Poseidon.'_

'_Yeah, because you're worst than the worst thing and Plasma's way better than me.'_

'_Oh, are those words of a lovesick puppy I'm hearing?' - I wanted to punch him in the face but the way he said it somehow hurt me. I began having images of Annabeth and her expressions when she told us that Plasma was my new girlfriend according to the gods and demi-gods' judgments._

'_I'll never fall in love.' – I announced confidently._

'_Oh, you will, trust me, my dear grandson.' – This time, his voice was bitter but humiliating, like he was cursing me. – 'You've sealed your own fate the day you accepted her as your companion._

'_Why are you so sure, granny?' – I said mockingly, denying his words. He laughed evilly, but there was something else in his voice, regrets, and… longing?_

'_Because, Jackson, no men can resist or outrun the Knight girls.'_

"SHUT UP!" – I shot up, darted out of my sleeping bag with my head in my hands.

Plasma was already sitting up in a corner of the tent, her turquoise eyes stared at me silently like a cat at night.

"Is it too early for breakfast?" – She asked lowly but sincerely. I stared.

_No men can resist or outrun the Knight girls. _It was another way to say: Kronos had failed to resist Sapphire Knight. I smiled at the girl in front of me and said:

"Breakfast sounds nice."

I knew that I could. I **will **resist a Knight girl, for my and **Plasma's **sake.

**A/N: Another chapter done. Was it acceptable, folks? The most important thing to do is WEIVER! Or another thing is REVIEW!**

**Okay, so about the vote in chapter 11. I've received a few votes from readers. Different minds, different taste. **

**Most of you are interested in option 2 and 3, so I'll use both in my story if it's possible. There are a few requests saying that I should use three of them because the bet between Percy and Gaea took place in 6 months, so there is plenty of time for different events. Some of you love option 1 because it's peaceful and I don't want to upset any of you. So there are two options. I'll start writing about the next location in the next chapter, so you should make up your mind about what you really want.**

**1) Percy and Plasma go to Tartarus to look for allies and also information about Plasma's mother. A minor titan or god knows about her and offers help. They live on the surface as normal people, but also go hunting for Giants.**

**2) Percy and Plasma go to Tartarus and **_**stay **_**there to be friends with the creatures there and also stay hidden from the gods. Tartarus (the primordial god) is interested in both of them and offers them a chance to become the pit's guardians since Percy stated that he might not have a life on the surface anymore after the final battle.**

**Allies (applied for both choices)/(friends and my options, but you can give me a name and we'll see):**

**a) Hades (he's not an Olympian so he can keep the secret) **

**b) Rhea (she's very motherly so why not?)**

**c) Thanatos (He owes Percy a favor, and I can make it like he also owed Sapphire Knight a favor)**

**d) Iapetus (He lost his memories and became Percy's friend in the Demigods file so he can be an ally)**

**So think carefully and pick your choice. Thanks for reading and voting, readers!**


	13. Home is where we get hurt

**A/N: It's such a relief that there are still people out there that enjoy reading my story. At first I thought this one won't be very successful so I can feel free to abandon it if I want but things don't go that way.**

Special thank **dudeman1973, Unreal51 **and **Shadow Cards** for following and favoring my story.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **Thanks for your compliment. Kronos's relationship with Plasma's mother is quite a complicated and confusing one so we won't be getting there for any time soon but yes, he somewhat still misses her. And good news, option 2 won the vote, but sorry, I'm afraid that Thanatos didn't. I hope you still find it interesting to read. Enjoy the new chapter.

**AN: **Aaah thanks! I feel the love… Anyway, thanks for getting back to reading again. I respect your vote, too but unfortunately option 2 won. Don't worry it won't be so bad, I'll try to make sure of that. About which allies won the vote, I won't reveal that anytime soon, you have to read and find out. Enjoy the new chapter.

**Huy: **Thanks for your praise. I have to admit that I can't believe I could come up with something like that. About the vote, it won't ruin my story since both options are my idea for this story so whatever the readers prefer, it's still my work. Sorry for being so grumpy this week, but sometimes you say too many rubbish things and they get on my nerves. Anyway, enjoy the new chapter.

**Misteriosayuri: **Thanks for reading again and voting. The result will be revealed when the story reaches that part, so you'll find out later. Enjoy the new chapter.

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **Thanks for reading and voting. I'm not sure about the romance thing, but it pleases you so yeah, I'm glad. Relationships in my story will be extremely complex so well… Anyway, enjoy my new shot.

**Shadow Cards: **Thank you for voting.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Percy Jackson series but the plot I do.

Personally, I think this chapter is horrible due to a disease called _Writer's Block _just spread into my system. There are countless stampedes these days at my place also because Lunar New Year is approaching and we have to prepare for the celebrations. I hope you guys can understand and thank you.

* * *

**Chapter 13: **Home is where we get hurt

**Third Person's Point of View:**

The atmosphere at camp was gloomy was an understatement. Zeus and Poseidon's mood wasn't so sunny and bright which added to the drama, coating camp in a gray silver quilt and it was obviously NOT warm. Despite the bad weather, a certain goddess still patiently burnt campfires every night when the godly brothers were too tired to cause any more depressing weather. Tonight, she was doing her usual duty when a teenage boy approached her with a firm look on his face. Such a young face to have such expression, but if his face was anything but different than the way it was, people may died because of shock. Nico di Angelo bowed in front of Hestia's eight-year-old form and she gestured him to sit by the fire. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. When a breeze dropped by, Hestia broke the silence, heating up the cold breeze:

"I believe that you have faced the power of fire and water."

"My Lady, I will be utterly grateful if you could somehow tell me straight what is going on. Things are total chaos these days and if we don't settle down, this could be the end."

"Rushing won't do you any good, Nico. You have to find out the causes behind the chaos, and then we approach the understanding part. Only then you can bring yourself to deal with the problems and accept the consequences."

"Then my lady, I'm ready to do the first step right then and there. We don't have much time."

"Then we have to make time." – replied Hestia, sending Nico a sigh. The kid was very impatient. – "What's going on is not in my authority to know or to tell. It's beyond the Oracles, and even perhaps the Fates' reach. We're in a very unique situation."

"What do you mean, my Lady? I can't keep track."

"Nico, we gods and demi-gods are too afraid of being… terminated that we've all forgotten that there are many things that are much worse than death. It's quite unbelievable that there is still someone out there who hasn't forgotten that." – smiled Hestia sadly.

The son of Hades frowned, trying to understand whatever Hestia was saying. He had a hunch about who Hestia was talking about, but he couldn't bring himself to actually confirm his suspicion.

"My Lady, that girl, Pearl McKnight, is she really a mortal daughter of...?"

"Nico, I believe it's not a problem. Think about people's reactions towards you when they found out who your godly parent is." – The goddess frowned, but her voice was soft.

"I guess not, but she did drag Percy to the wrong path!"

"Oh, did she?" – chuckled Hestia, she glanced at the boy and encouraged him with a smile.

"She did! They _destroyed _the cabins, my Lady. We _saw _the whole thing; you _saw _them, too didn't you?" – Nico hissed impatiently but then he sighed. – "I'm sorry, my Lady, I just don't like riddles."

"The thing is, Nico, do you trust your eyes that much? Or perhaps you should listen to what you know about Percy and what your consciousness feels about this."

Nico's eyes widened at the statement, digesting the advice of the goddess of _Family_. His consciousness about Percy denied all the judgments that people threw at the son of Poseidon after the chaos. Behind those actions, there was something else. That day, no-one was hurt physically, or even bruised just a bit. Maybe… things were at another direction, the direction that no-one bothered to look. The son of Hades stood up and thanked Hestia for the conversation then shadow-travelled to the first place where he could start.

**Plasma's Point of View:**

After Percy shot up from his sleep the other night, we didn't mention about it. I knew that my creator was trying to manipulate him and drive him insane, but Percy was _returning the favor _well enough. Both of us denied the fact that it was only the matter of time before he lost control over my creator. We trained intensively these days because it was our only distraction. At first we planned to somehow pretend to be normal mortals and go to school, get a part-time job (whatever it was) and at least taste the boring cycle of mortals' life, but it was too risky. What surprised me most was that I _almost _got excited when he told me we had a chance to do that stuff in a small low-population town, but then I snapped both of us out and picked the right decision. But we agreed on the same thing: we must find a place to stay because moving too much could expose ourselves.

I was better at using my powers now since the time on the surface was… clearer in Tartarus. Percy had been shooting water balls at me while I froze them in the air. My spell lasted quite long so in sh*tty situation (as Percy always said), I could buy us some time to retreat if necessary. I insisted on killing anything that attacked us on the way since if we spared them; they would only go after us again. The worst part was controlling Hestia's blessing. The more hard I tried the more failure I got. Of course it was still impossible for me to express frustration despite Percy's effort on annoying me with his rants, which was surprisingly not annoying at all but interesting.

In a blink of eye, the dark had already replaced the sunlight. I realized that travelling on foot to an undetermined destination was probably my hobby. The funny thing was Percy enjoyed himself too and he kept talking non-stop. We both absently agreed on teaching each other stuff without offering explanations.

"… Homework is also another unbearable kind of torture. Maybe you'll find it enjoyable since you know; you can be still for like… hours! As for me, I'd rather fight an army of a hundred monsters."

"Homework? As in work at home?" – I'd never got tired listening to these things. They were _completely _annoying and nothing related to the deadly game. They were confusing and I just… liked how my mind processed all the information Percy threw at me. Instincts had ruled my life for so long, and for the first time, I didn't get myself killed for thinking of something.

"Yeah, that's right. I never do it though, because I can't even read the topics properly! But of course, I've always wanted to read a book on my own someday!" – said Percy dreamingly with a hint of bitterness.

"So what do you like to read if you have a chance?" – I asked curiously. After his speeches about schools and education, reading in his point of view seemed to be boring, and now he confessed that he'd wanted to read a book. But I couldn't judge him, because I enjoyed listening to his "annoying" rants!

"Something normal and utterly silly, I guess. Like _Diary of a Wimpy Kid_, it's ordinary life." – He shrugged; his blue eyes reflected the dancing flame I made.

My sights were sharp at night, giving me ability to see the sparkling light of the locket of Percy's necklace. It was hard to believe that my features could look so _cheerful, innocent _and _naïve_, but it wasn't surprising because this was Percy. I had a feeling like I was looking at my brother, but the concept of _family _and _friends_ weren't really carved into my brain yet.

"Not fairy tales then?" – Well, I wished I could curse my instinct but I couldn't.

"Forgive me, kid, but fairy tales are full of _crap_." – He smiled apologetically and sourly.

"I'm sorry." – I quickly said, because my knuckles were itching to punch that smile out of his face.

"Sorry? When are you going to stop apologizing non-sense? It's not your fault that I have negative reactions to the happy endings that none of us could never get in those fairy tales?" – He scolded, his eyes scanned mine to detect any guilt, but he'd never found anything, because there was absolutely _nothing_. – "Have you read anything?"

At this, all my senses stopped functioning. I'd spent great deal of time trying to forget what I'd read, but it never did work. Percy shouldn't know about anything I'd read, because _some_ of them was about… the end of the world, natural disasters, self-destructions due to human's treachery, etc. My muscles tensed, my nerves stretched, braced myself to find sanity. I mumbled:

"Libraries and bookshops don't go to Tartarus after they went out of business, Percy."

From the look of his face, he didn't buy my joke, my heart nearly crushed bones and skin. But then, he chuckled and shook his head.

"If you don't want to talk about something, feel free to change subject and we'll never mention about it again."

We sighed at each other's silly reactions to things and stayed quiet for the first time of the day. I wondered if he acted like this around his family and friends, but then, I was _nothing _like any of them, so I couldn't expect that. But Percy was abnormal himself, so I needed time to know for sure. We automatically prepared ourselves for another sleep, which promised a lot of _crap_ – Percy complained before settled himself down under the blanket we _borrowed _from a motel. He'd stopped complaining about my way of sleeping a few days ago, but still I could feel uncomfortable glances behind my back. I sat sleeping so if something happened at night, I could react immediately.

"Try to have a goodnight." – We muttered under our breath and nodded.

**Morpheus' realm**

"'_First rule of life!' – I was two. Ma was tired. Her time was very limited, but she would crush anything and anyone who interrupted us._

'_Kill or be killed.'_

'_Always keep your guard up…'_

'_Even when sleeping.'_

'_Emotions' – Ma's fierce blue eyes pierced into mine. I stammered. Mistake._

'_Weakness…?'_

'_Is that a question or a statement?'_

'_Emotions are weakness!'_

'_Killing'_

'_Assignment.' – Why was I learning these? – 'Love?'_

_Ma looked at me with… confusion? Guilt? Sympathy?_

'_Answer!' – I growled. Amber eyes._

'_Death.' – Emotionless. Finality. – 'You shouldn't think about it, my child.' – Ma said softly._

_Love meant death? Blue eyes. – 'My existence?' – I hissed._

'_Now's not the time.' – She approached me slowly. Guilt. A rare smile. So warm._

_We tensed. Metal in the air. Surge of great power. What?_

'_RUN!'_

'_NO!' – Slash in the air. Scent of blood and flowers? – 'Ma!"_

_Weak. Powerless. Useless. Couldn't feel death. She was leaving._

'_WHO are you, JERK?' – Bastard with amber eyes, like mine when angry. Evil smile. Accusation._

'_Sapphire Knight, I've been looking for you. Still charming as ever, hmm? All of this, for that trouble?' – Anger. His finger pointed at me. Ma's blood._

'_STAY AWAY!' – I stabbed him. Kill, kill, kill! _

'_Can't destroy your powerful father, can you, little girl?' – Humiliation. Challenging._

'_ROT IN HELL!' – Angst. Grief. Tears. A flash of light. Purity. Boiling blood. He vanished, a scream of pain._

'_Stand up to your creators – bravery.' – Smiled Ma. Regret._

'_No, don't go.' – I whispered, begging._

'_Humanity – obstinacy.' – whispered Ma. Breath labored. No._

'_Fear?' – I hiccoughed, tears._

'_Courage.' – smiled Ma, encouraging. – 'Titan – powerful.'_

'_Death?' – Her smell faded. Vaporizing._

'_New beginning, my child.' – Her soul transformed. Warmth. Farewell._

_Love leaded to death. Death was a new beginning. What?_

_Gone. Forever._

'_Come, little girl. I'm your…' – He reformed._

'_Prey.' – Swing my sword. Blaze._

'_You're a mistake, you shouldn't have existed. I've been foolish.'_

_My existence – mistake._

* * *

Sweat. Panting. I was pathetic. Everything was blurry.

"Plasma Knight, you're with me? OUCH!' – I immediately donated my fist to whoever shook me non-stop.

Great, Percy. My sight was clear. Percy was on the ground panting like me. I was torturing him with the dream.

"Did you see it?" – I hoped the answer would be no.

"See what?" – He shot back with concern in his voice.

He didn't know which was good. My lips changed into a thin line. Then a wave travelled through my body.

"PERCY!'

"_Enjoying the past, children?" – _That dark chuckle resounded in my mind again. Bastard.

Percy curled up into a ball and gritted his teeth, his breath was shallow. Curse my weakness.

"_Will you tell him, __**Plasma**__?" _– I wanted to do _something_, to show him the rage I was feeling. Wait a second, _rage?_ Since when I wanted to show someone my _rage?_ What was I mad at? Who was I angry at?

Answer sheet: Since I travelled with Percy. This situation. Myself and Percy's selflessness.

I quickly ruffled Percy's back and said soothingly:

"Percy, fight him. Or let me in."

He looked up and just as I expected, his left eye was amber and the right one was blue, _my _blue. Shivers ran through his muscle and shook me lightly. Wet sweat sulked us both. Percy grumbled something in his throat. He was reasoning with my creator, and it seemed like he was determined to prove his point. I had a feeling that I would soon have to tell him about my past. All he had was _me_. That statement was so scary. All he had was a _cold-blooded _killer. I feared for him. Again, when did I know how to fear? Wimp, weak, useless!

"Whatever's happening, Plasma, I want you to know that I'm glad you're around." – Percy gripped his arms around me tightly, restraining himself from going crazy. His cough boiled up my rage towards my creator.

I saw a flash of Percy's first battle with the Minotaur in my mind. Kronos was trying to break Percy just like to me. He failed to save his mother, and he was lucky that Hades only abducted her.

"You're courageous, Percy, the bravest person. It's okay to fear."

His eyes were watery, but they were pure blue now. We composed ourselves after five minutes.

"Are we going to _die, _kid?" – It was a childish question, but I knew the feeling.

"Yes, we are. But not now, and to you, not in about fifty years later."

He gave me a teary smile, attacked me with a big hug. I was always cautious with these interactions, but Percy told me to get used to it. My mind was lighter and soon floating like a feather in the air when I felt his stable heartbeats, his controlled breaths, and the normal rising pace of his lungs. I broke the hug first, looking at him in the eye for any sign of madness. Nothing. Good.

"We're going back to Tartarus." – I declared, checking his reaction. A bunch of results were played in my mind, and I needed to see if he finally went mad.

It was heart-attacking. He stood up and gave me a kind smile, like Ma did when her time came. His expression was calm and composed, like he was about to do something that he always did every day. Percy started to _gather our stuff _and make water appear from the air_. _I _nearly _dropped my jaw. Fire was everywhere in the tent. What?

"I think you've just succeeded using Hestia's blessing, kid. And come on, we shouldn't waste time, right?"

"That's it, no objections, no silly questions?" – My voice was emotionless.

"I'm saving those when we finish packing." – He shrugged, cleaning up the flames. – "I'm pretty excited to hear the explanations, you know so you better prepare a long speech. We'll see if yours can beat the presidents'. After all, Plasma, we'll follow each other until the end, right?"

"This is Tartarus we're talking…"

"I cross my heart and…" – He cut me off; a weird sensation crossed my throat. It was something that Ma used to tell me…

"Hope to die!" – There it was. My lips stretched into a _genuine _smile, for the first time.

**A/N: Thanks for reading dear readers! It's Lunar New Year in a few hours so I have a lot of work! I thought that I have more free time these days but apparently I don't. Please, READ and REVIEW!**


	14. Plasma teaches me lesson 1 of Tartarus

**A/N: It's quite disappointing since fewer and fewer readers take interest in my story, but good thing is it's not quite a shock since I've expected this at the beginning. To those who are still following, I send my deepest thank.**

Well, because not many people read this story, I'm planning to start another one for my friend. She has some mental issues so I often spend time telling her stories from my imagination after I read her original books. It's quite weird that she always demands for more and for the past few months she's been bugging me to write it down somewhere for her to read. So I guess it'll be great joy for me if you give it a chance.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **Thanks for understanding. I'll try to keep writing this story if I feel like it. It'll be very lame if a story is discontinued before it even reaches its climax, right? I appreciate your support.

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **I'm glad last chapter pleases you. I wrote it in a really bad mood in a horrible condition. It's unbelievable that I can still think straight and type this story down after countless stampedes during the holiday but your review's done a great job pushing me. Thanks for reading.

**Huy: **Thanks for reading again, Snow White. I hope your days away from school were enjoyable because we're about to be tortured again soon. Holiday goes away so quickly!

**AN: **I hope you had a great holiday. Thanks for getting back to my story again, but if you didn't, it'd have been fine. It's not the end of the world. About my updating frequency, I can't guarantee anything. This is writing for fun, not for making money business!

**Chapter 14: **Plasma teaches me lesson #1 of Tartarus

**Third Person's Point of View:**

"I don't know what's wrong with him, Nico!" – Sally Jackson, mother of a certain son of Poseidon was having a hard time after her son's rebellion.

After his conversation with Hestia, Nico had immediately travelled to Sally's apartment because he knew Percy had at least had a word with his mother before he did anything crazy. Not disappointing him, his instincts were luckily right about the first clue to the truth, but it wasn't anything close to his expectations.

"Nico, I'm not like Sally, I don't have a clear look at your world but I know something's going on. Percy's last talk to us was extremely unpleasant. I don't think it was Percy at all! He never talks like that to us, especially to Sally!" – Paul was shock but there wasn't the slightest hint of anger he felt. He knew Percy's life was hard, even harder to a normal demi-god's life.

"Look, Ms. Jackson, Mr. Blofis, I don't know anything for sure either, but Percy's making dangerous decisions. I need you two to stay calm, because emotions don't help much in this situation." – said Nico calmly, his dark brown eyes looked straight into Sally's teary ones.

"I'm trying to, Nico. And please, call us Sally and Paul. Are you guys having a hard time at camp or something?" – Sally composed herself in Paul's arms and gave Nico a strained smile.

The son of Hades sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. The expression made him looked nothing close to the appearance of a thirteen-year-old boy. If demi-gods didn't die because of monsters, they would have died young because of the amount of emotions they often had in their short miserable lives.

"Yes, Sally, we are all in a very life-threatening time, but right now things are easing down. I'm not sure for how long, but at least no-one dies these few weeks. That's not what we need to discuss right now really. There are other matters that are more important though."

"Nico, if we can help, we'll happily support you with everything in our ability." – encouraged Paul with a worried face, but he was very welcoming.

Nico eyed the parents in front of him. Because of the weight of current situation, he didn't feel other silly emotions like jealousy towards Percy or grief towards his dead relatives like Maria di Angelo or Bianca di Angelo, his long gone mother and sister. Percy must have a really good reason to leave behind such caring and perfect family like this.

"I appreciate the offer, Paul. I just need you to tell me exactly what happened when Percy IMed you two before he… disappeared. Tell me every detail that is unusual, abnormal, suspicious, anything like that in your point of view. It might help my… investigation." – Nico spoke slowly, flinched right after he finished due to his business-like tone and how awkward it was since he sounded like a detective from a security agency, demanding for information from wounded witnesses.

With that, Sally and Paul told Nico every single detail of the conversation that leaded to so much heartache. It was very difficult, reliving the painful moments when Percy's words stabbed her heart like merciless daggers, when he said he wasn't her son. Nico frowned every time Sally's voice went hoarse and Paul had to continue, then Sally would insist on telling him by herself; he knew that Percy had always known how much it would hurt his mother if he said those words, so the purpose behind this crap should be worth all of it. When they finished, it took Nico a few minutes to ingest everything they filled him with. He took Sally's hand in his awkwardly and squeezed it sincerely:

"Look Sally, it's been very rough for everyone. I'm sorry no-one can do anything for you right now. I'll try my hardest to bring your son back, if he wants to be back. Percy Jackson is still out there, somewhere, I just know. The moment he demanded to help me, to be my friend has proven that he won't betray anyone for anything. The Fates can't change that, and I'm going to prove that. Be strong, Sally."

"I don't know how to thank you, Nico. Would you like to…?"

"I'm sorry, Sally, but time's running out. Thank you for your time and support, I'll be on my way now. Try to live on, okay?" – Nico shook Paul's hand before shadow-travelled away.

After his visit to Sally's apartment, he'd found out something useful. It took Percy's a lot of guts to spill the words out to his mother. Maybe next step was finding the answer to the question: Where did he get those guts from?

**Percy's Point of View:**

After Kronos left me alone, we packed up our camp and went on travelling. Gaea was obviously saving her strength to celebrate our failure, _if _we failed. Everything was deadly quiet and peaceful, not the kind of peacefulness that I enjoyed.

"Let them destroy themselves. And all we need to do is give them a little push - which we shall do." – said Plasma with a frown.

"What does that mean, Plasma?" – I raised my eyebrow at her weird statement.

"Gaea's tactic for upcoming battle." – After she announced that we were going back to Tartarus, she had become almost like the person she was when I first met her. Utterly blank.

"Well, it won't work. We're here to make sure of that." – I reassured both of us but we could never deny the truth. – "Why aren't we in Tartarus?" – She sounded so sure when she decided, so I was pretty sure that she wasn't joking.

"I said we will go there but I didn't say _when_." – Plasma emphasized the last word like she was speaking to a very dumb kindergarten child. – "We have to go there anyway. It's not a big problem since you're able to water-travel."

"Yes, I know, I just want to know the exact schedule. The first month didn't even pass yet so we still have plenty of time."

"Why do I have a feeling that you can't wait to go to Tartarus, Percy?" – Was that what was bugging her?

"I didn't say that." – I replied shortly. The truth was I was kind of eager to see Plasma's place in Tartarus; surly she had somewhere to stay there otherwise… I smelled an argument coming up. But no, which I'd rather have then the annoying silence that was covering us.

My mind started wondering unimportant stuff like how many times I would see the sky before I went to the Underworld forever. I snapped out of my trance when I found myself flying towards a tree. Ouch. It looked like Plasma was bored too so she decided to train while travelling.

"That's not very nice, kid!" – I rubbed my back and spots that hit the tree.

"Tell that to the torturers of Tartarus!" – Came the unexpected respond. What?

"What the hell are you talking…?"

"Stop talking and keep your guard up." – She was already behind me and picked me up like I was a disgusting doll. – "If you want to go _there _with me, you should stop acting sloppy."

What? It took me one tenths second to understand what Plasma was doing. She wanted to make sure if I had enough _standards _to go to Tartarus. That was what made her hesitate to let me teleport us both to that hellhole. The upper part of my body hit the ground and I stood up slowly like a baby. Damn it, I cursed my instincts. Composing myself quickly, my heart was pounding like nuts, I started to fight back. I wasn't sure what the correct answer in her answer sheet was but I had to get it fast. Her movements were flawless as usual and that rendered me frozen. My arms and legs reacted to ADHD, and I soon coped with the spar. I must have looked really stupid because sometimes Plasma narrowed her eyes weirdly at me. All I could was dodging her attacks or blocking them. Apparently in Tartarus it would be worse, much worse. I grumbled in my throat as sweat formed on my forehead. My hand reached for Blaze and it was already there. The unarmed combat suddenly turned into not so unarmed. Plasma took out a long chain made of some weird metal and began swirling it around dangerously. She was truly a daughter of Kronos and if I could defeat her father then I certainly stood a chance against her, no matter how tiny it was. It was futile, all of my attempts trying to knock her out. The chain wrapped around my left knee and tightened its hold around my clothed flesh. I grumbled in my throat as the other part started whipping me. Blaze glowed in my hand, I let out a scream as I slain the iron chain. It was cut, but then quickly reformed into its normal state. Sh*t, this was going to be a long fight.

The sun was above our heads and Plasma still didn't have a scratch on her. Not that I complained but I was pathetic with bruises on my face. I refused to have the thought that Plasma was ten times more skillful than my training partners at camp, because right now it seemed like I was too bad comparing to her. The sound of Blaze clashing Plasma's chain rang through the air and luckily no-one was around to witness two kids fighting like the world was ending. Actually, it could possibly end in about six months. It was unacceptable that I could still think of things like this during my test. The spar was coming to an end itself when I realized that the attacks were quicker and rapid-fire. I managed to distract her by faking losing my balance and wipe the sword in the wrong direction and successfully pushed her to the ground with Blaze pointed at her neck while her chain wrapped loosely around my chest. We were even again, but it didn't take Plasma a lot of energy while I struggled to catch up with her strikes. Her green eyes stared intensely at mine but I couldn't see any emotions. It was clear that she didn't want this match to be even.

"Plasma Knight, I can survive well in that pit if you can, so if we go, we go. Have a little faith in me would you?"

"Oh trust me Percy; if I have faith at all it would be totally in you, it's me I don't trust." – She mumbled quietly but her eyes glowed dangerously and ardently; making my mind went wild. What?

For a moment I forgot that the fight didn't really end yet, and I had to pay the price. She tightened the chain around me and I ended up panting exhaustedly on the dirt.

"No mercy. No distractions. Nothing." – I gulped at how… deadly she sounded.

But then, Plasma smiled, genuinely as last time. It made it all worth it and I started telling her to let me go:

"Kid, you have to let me go there with you! I know that I can…"

"You talk too much Percy. But ironically I enjoy listening to your rants." – She tilted her head at the sight of me getting out of the tangled chain.

"So it's a good thing?" – I glanced at her.

"A bad thing, too. Both, always both." – She sighed at her own answer.

"So are _we _going or not?" – I was trying to carve the word _we _into her brain.

Being the girl she always was, she didn't answer, not verbally at least. I offered her my hand, and she took it. Then Tartarus it was. When darkness surrounded us, a laugh of… satisfaction attacked our eardrums.

**A/N: Thanks for reading. I'll appreciate some reviews. **


	15. I have a hard time digesting lesson 2

**A/N: Finally, my story has come to the interesting part. It's crappy that the mid-term exam is screwing my mind.**

Thanks **TheWingedSunDragonofRal13402 **a.k.a **AN,** **jwest1751** and **minhduong2511 **for favoring me and my story.

**DeathmatchDrunkard: **You just have to wait and see I guess. That lesson is quite hard to learn; especially Percy is obviously not a resident of Tartarus _yet_.

**TheWingedSunDragonofRal13402 :** You can't expect her to be like a piece of stone you know. She's half-human so she has the right to be soft, but you'll get the hard-core part you ask for. After all, she's a daughter of Kronos, she'll never be actually… harmless, especially with the amount of power she inherits from her father, not to mention from her mother whom we're not sure if she's a full human!

**NIce (Guest): **Quite a lot of people have asked for romance between Percy and Plasma. I'm not really good at writing love stories or anything involved… fluffiness, but I'll give it a try. They both have to become fierce fighters to stand a chance in that pit, so emotions can be a bit difficult to have some space there. Thanks for reading. I really appreciate your review.

**Huy: **You don't have to tell me that all over again, you know.

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **Thanks for reading and good news is: here's the next chapter.

Also thank you for the lovely phone calls from Bangkok and Budapest!

**Chapter 15: I have a hard time digesting lesson #2**

**Third Person's Point of View**:

If there was a worldwide marathon, no-one should invite Percy Jackson and Plasma Knight to come because these two teenagers would no doubt bring all the competitors to their knees. Or maybe, it was just Tartarus that boosted their running speed and length up.

"Don't panic, they'll give up before we do." – Plasma with her neutral voice but certainly could bring chills to anyone's spines.

"Are you sure?" – growled Percy between his panting, bringing a few slashes to whatever was behind their backs.

Their thighs were burning due to the long run. It was obvious that the demi-gods up on land had taken their rage out by slaying various monsters every time they found one, or even go looking for monsters themselves. The son of Poseidon and daughter of Kronos were being chased by an army of monsters and luckily it wasn't their first time so no-one complained. The pace, the rush, the emotions, the pain… everything was becoming more familiar every second passed by. The blue-eyed girl mumbled:

"No."

Percy didn't want to stop and that feeling truly scared him. Tartarus was getting to him. Various unexplainable emotions passed through his mind as he ran after Plasma. First was self-ashamed. Plasma was a girl that was much younger than him and she didn't seem to be affected just a slight bit while he, who was supposed to be the older boy, was panting pathetically and sweating like a pig. Plasma had explained to him that all the weapons her mother left her were abnormal, so he shouldn't be surprised when they could injure him even both of them had bathed in the river of Styx. Second emotion was some kind angst that he was quite sure that the best therapists on Earth couldn't understand it. He wanted to scream at the unfairness. The monsters seemed to _enjoy _themselves down here, and they could always get out and reform to hurt his cousins, siblings, _demi-gods_. Tartarus was itself pure evil and it was painfully obviously foolish to let all bad guys gather in this pit and form an annoying league of _we-hate-the-gods-and-western-culture. _It was just ridiculous that the beasts stayed together all the time while he hardly ever had quality time with his friends and family.

"Idiot, it's not the right time for those."

A wave of intense emotion of warning slammed at his mind. He mentally cursed himself for thinking too much.

"You think…"

"You die." – Percy automatically replied.

"Adopt…"

"Or die."

"Kill…"

"Or be killed. When is this race going to end?" – Percy asked impatiently.

"After this." – His spine chilled, her voice was deadly _icy_. – "You still have to prove that you're a worthy resident of Tartarus." – Plasma's eyes flickered between blue and amber.

"What?" – Again the son of Poseidon spitted out a dumb question.

Something rose from the solid ground under their feet, shaking the whole area violently. In half a second Percy thought of his father, the Earth shaker but immediately shook the feeling away to face whatever was coming. A gigantic figure stood from the dirt and looked at him with scary bright grey eyes. They weren't stormy like Athena's, but they could certainly steal consciousness from ones with weak nerves, also they constantly changed from black and white, which formed the strange grey color. Like other titans and gods, the giant man was muscular and there was aura of power radiating from him.

"I'm Lelantos, Titan of Air and the hunter's skill of stalking preys."

_Oh sh*t._

**Percy's Point of View:**

Plasma Knight had got to be f*cking kidding me! She wasn't going to let me fight this titan on my own, was she? But the daughter of Kronos was very unpredictable and since she had warned earlier: I had to prove that I was a worth resident of Tartarus and the tests weren't pleasant at all. I chose this, and I had to deal with my decision. I didn't regret though because sooner or later I would die, so I wanted to seek for a meaningful death, not a stupid one.

"Oh yeah, what's your motivation of killing me anyway? It's not like my dear gramps will shake hands with you!"

It was an old tactic, provoking your enemy so that they would lose their senses, but unfortunately it only worked on immature gods like Ares or other minor gods. Titans were experienced fighters and powerful-beings; they weren't dumb enough to fall for my childish fighting styles. To do this, I must do this better than I had ever done.

"Why don't you figure it out yourself after the battle, little demi-god?"

"We'll see." – I said, tightened my hold around Blaze. My advantage was sword-fighting and I shouldn't waste it.

He smirked and charged. His speed was damn fast, too fast that I could barely see anything. Sometimes I caught the glimpse of deep blue glowing from Plasma's orbs and the golden red light from the flames around Tartarus but nothing was clear enough to actually see. If I couldn't figure out a solution fast, I would be pretty much screwed. Soon I realized all his powers: speed, hiding, limited air-controlling power like thickening air making me trip on my own feet like a fool, fastening air turning it into small breezes and minor winds or something like that, sneaky like the huntresses of Artemis. Sometimes when he moved, I didn't even know his position. My eyes were useless. It took me quite a long time to remember that sights weren't everything in a battle. Other senses were important too and I should really give them some quality credits. Since my eyes had become a liability, I reluctantly closed them in order to hear or at least feel the presence of the titan in the air. He was deadly quiet and fast, like lightning, moving gracefully but surprisingly, not as Plasma, darting around me like arrows and lightning, but again, not as impressive as the daughter of Kronos. In every spar with Plasma, we were always even. Was that because she had been playing easy on me? That I was actually a wimp, not a great warrior as people and perhaps I thought I should be? The titan's thunder punch landed on my left cheek, nearly knocking my brain out of my skull. Damn it, I was thinking too much _again_. My atlas underneath the skin of my neck wanted to crack so badly due to the strong impacts, but I forced my body to move, my organs to stay in place as long as the battle still went on.

There was something about Lelantos made me doubt his will to win this fight. Sometimes he looked at me as if I wasn't really his rival, but an acquaintance, an ally of some sort. My eyes must have fooled me since everything was damn blurry, but my judgments towards those things were rarely wrong. All things that happened during this test were so complicated but I forced myself to answer the questions and wrote them on the sheet. Lelantos could appear in thin air right behind my back every once in a while and gave me a fatal blow but thanks to the curse of river Styx, I wasn't smashed like smashed potatoes. If it hadn't been for the bath in the Styx, I would have died for the hundredth time. It was frustrating that my confidence was wounded due to the ugly facts. I swirled, pointed, moved around with Blaze like a dance, fast but recklessly, since I wasn't allowed to think much at all. Thinking meant death – according to Plasma. Honestly, if I had a chance to think, I wouldn't even know what to think of. Lelantos had managed to avoid my sword with some difficulty, but he didn't get tired easily like me.

Every battle would come to an end, quickly or slowly but still. I was glad that this one did, too. It happened pretty quickly since my reflexes and instincts had become more natural during the battle. Lelantos wrestled me to ground, making me see stars flying around but still managed to let out a horrible roar and kicked his stomach with my leg while hitting his head with the flat side of Blaze's blade. He grumbled to respond my weak attacks but I jumped up into the air and created some water to support the height, swirling my long sword around to form a mini tornado and blind his sight. The titan's huge arms made their ways to my throat but I concentrated on Kronos inside my mind and recalled the memory of Plasma slowing down Zeus' lightning bolt flying towards me and luckily succeeded on slowing down Lelantos' motion. He fell down to the ground and growled painfully, but he didn't look surprised. I pointed Blaze at his throat and asked hoarsely:

"Any last words?"

"Lady Knight is right like always. You are quite a fighter, but to stay here, you have to do much better than the performance you just did."

"What?" – I slowly understood the whole situation that Plasma had made a deal with Lelantos to fight me. He wasn't just a random titan in this pit who desired my life like others always.

I made a mistake by turning back to the titan to compose my mind and deal with this whole thing. My mind didn't feel like killing the titan right now, not after he seemingly had gone easy on me as well, just like Plasma.

"Never turn away from your enemy, Jackson."

Apparently he didn't, at all because he nearly ripped my back apart with his attack. I deserved it since the mistake I made wasn't something that could be passed. I totally forgot that she didn't announce that I'd passed the test. My mind went wild at the horrible pain shot through everything. I wanted to lie down and forgot this damn world and abandoned my own miserable existence. Everything was _on fire_.

_Rise up from the pain, Percy. From now on, agony shall be what makes you stronger. _– It was what Plasma had also taught me. Could I do this?

I did a cartwheel with some energy I had left inside my body when feeling another blow was about to land on me. Thank god that my calculation was right since my whole torso flew out of the titan's fist's way and I landed accurately on his neck, my legs wrapped around his neck. I crushed his collarbone or whatever it was, making him scream in pain. My mind shouted at myself. I felt the warmth from Blaze, the vital pulse from the blade, the desire to feel my power, my aura washed over me. Blaze wanted to fight _with _me. I forced all the chaos emotions on the sword, feeling heat radiating from it and a glowing bloody red light came from it violently. I saw Plasma stood up from her position and narrowed her eyes at the sight. Without asking, I knew what she wanted me to do. To finish this. To end this.

"What's your last word, Lelantos?"

With that, Blaze with the strength of my arms went through Lelantos chest, right through his heart. A titan was hard to kill, so I used everything I could think of, emotions, memories, the physical pain I had to give Blaze what it needed. Lelantos' body glowed and began to disintegrate into golden dust slowly. He gave me a weak smile that I wanted to stab myself:

"Don't lose your humanity, both of you."

I caught the mass of dust that was supposed to be his hand and whispered: "I'll try" as I felt a strong surge of power shaking my body. Everything became too much as darkness started to swallow me. Just before I gave in to it, I saw Plasma knelt next to me, mumbling:

"I've already lost it."

**A/N: Okay, it's the best I can do after test marathon. Honestly, I feel worn out. Can you guys boost me up with some reviews? Thanks for reading.**


	16. We blind ourselves with our emotions

**A/N: Some (hopefully many) of you have been waiting for the next chapter **_**impatiently **_**and for that I'm deeply sorry. My homework is killing me these days and I have to do a bunch of crazy presentations. You all must have experienced this feeling before so I won't ask for your understanding. Thank you for all your amazing support!**

Special thanks to **ShadowFlame Gabe **and ** 00 **for following along with favoring me and my story. You really made my day!

**Dman (Guest): **Thanks for your review. A lot of readers who have read this story asked for romance between Percy and Plasma, too. Maybe it's time for me to consider about it. Enjoy.

**Huy: **You should really try to improve your grammar.

**BeautifulNoMatterWhat: **I hope your excitement is still there after two weeks. Thanks for reading.

** 00: **Thanks for your sweet review! It makes me want to fly into the air! But don't worry; I'm still on Earth to post the next chapter so here it is. Thank you for your support and enjoy the new chapter.

Also thank you for the calls from Ashland (New York) and Melbourne (Australia).

**Chapter 16: **We blind ourselves with our emotions

**Empire State Building, 600****th**** floor**

"Do you know any whereabouts of Perseus Jackson?" – Zeus's voice shook the air in the throne room and perhaps if some people from miles away caught heart-attacks, the cause wasn't a mystery at all.

"If we knew we would have told you, Drama Queen." – Poseidon grumbled, glaring at Zeus. He was tired after the 199th time the king of gods had asked this question.

"Barnacle Beard, that cowardly puddle of sea scum is technically a part of you, so there's no reason…" – Athena denied her uncle's statement immediately like she had been preparing it for ages and indeed she had.

"You know nothing, Owl Face! He's not the Seas' anymore! It's been that way since he shook Kronos' hand. So stop…"

"Are you gods or dogs? Because we're actually barking at…" – Hera chimed in the fight, her face was serious like the world would crumble soon. Ironically, according to their knowledge, it was actually crumbling down.

"Oh please, _mother_, it's been like this for… what? Years? Decades? Oh right, _millenniums!_" – Hephaestus snorted at the Queen of gods bitterly. She was the very person who created so many conflicts and discords around this place.

"Honey, you shouldn't talk like…" – Aphrodite's eyes were glued on the mirror but still she warned her _husband_ sternly.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be your honey!" – Ares protested at Aphrodite's words although he was having a good time sharpening his spear.

"I swear if I get my hands on this disgrace of mankind he will definitely wish he's never been born!" – Announced Artemis murderously, recalling the encounter with Percy.

"Cool down sister, it's not the end of the world that a boy has outrun you." – Apollo replied soothingly, but his mind wasn't paying attention. He was trying to at least have a glimpse of a vision, a prophecy, anything like that.

"Oh, for heaven's gods' sake, will you guys SHUT UP?" – The Goddess of Hearth, who had always been the quiet one, spoke up in rage. The red flame around her was dancing fiercely which did a good job shutting everyone in the throne room up. But then, her face came back to the usual calm and composed state and sighed. – "Or perhaps if it suits you, just continue."

"Actually, we're very curious about your thoughts at this situation, Hestia." – Stated Zeus seriously; he never actually noticed Hestia's presence in the room after Dionysus took her place. Sometimes he felt stupid for ignoring her but his pride had prevented him from neither apologizing nor making up to it.

"I have no comments of whatsoever, Zeus." – said Hestia calmly, not fearing the Lightning bolt one bit. She was _unimportant _after all. No-one had ever believed her to be a strong god, but they forgot the fact that she was actually the oldest god.

"Hmm, I don't think so, Hestia. We underestimate your knowledge and power many times before and I think we're not foolish enough to repeat a mistake like that _again_." – A voice came from a portal made of shadow appearing from thin air in the middle of the throne room. The God of Death had joined the party. – "Did I miss anything or we've just begun with a _little _conversation?"

"We just get started." – Hera replied in disgust, glaring daggers at Hades, who ignored the looks. He had got used to those as soon as they got out of Kronos's stomach. – "Anything we should know about in your realm?"

"What's happening in my realm right now is kept in the People's Republic of None of your Damn Business, Hera. I'm only here because Nico's been pestering me since _forever _about how important meetings these days are and your _loyal _husband has actually sent me an invitation." –Hades spoke in neutral tone, eyes sweeping the throne room with caution.

"Then I think we'd love to visit the People's Republic of None of your Damn Business, Hades. You're the first one to know if something stirs in _that _place." – Athena said politely while Hades settled down on a chair. – "And the fact that you three…" – Athena pointed at Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. – "Have a _mortal _sister is very fascinating to all of us. Where's she been all this time?"

"Don't. Mention. Of. Her." – Zeus spitted the words out like they'd been big pain in his ass for a long time but letting them go wasn't quite easy either.

"Unfortunately, we have to talk about her since she inherits almost all the powers that Kronos has not to mention what kind of mortal her mother is to strong enough to give birth to a half-mortal, half-_titan _child." – Hades rolled his eyes at his brother.

"I believe that none of us has ever imagined something like this would happen." – Poseidon mumbled under his breath, but everyone could still hear him.

"Nothing's possible." – Hestia let out lowly, but Apollo heard her.

"Why do I have a feeling that you know something that we don't, Aunt Hestia?" – Apollo said in wonder, looking at the Goddess of Heart with a raised eyebrow.

All the heads turned to Hestia with suspicious looks on their faces. Was she a part of this? Hell no, Hestia was never known as a betrayer.

"Apollo, I was the first god that came to life. Of course I know more things than likely everyone here. Even Athena is irrevocably smart, nothing's going to change the fact that I'm the oldest and I've seen and heard more than you have." – Hestia explained warmly and gently, like she was lecturing very slow students.

"Then enlighten us with something useful please because we're pitifully blind here." – Artemis snarled impatiently.

"Do you really want to know what the real problem is?" – Hestia asked, eyeing every individual in the throne room.

"Y-E-S!" – Everyone shouted and did the gesture that said "Duh! Come on!"

"Well, the first thing you need to know is: you're not blind. It's just there, and you refuse to see it."

Everyone was speechless. Most of them didn't understand what the hell Hestia was talking about. What was there? And why did they refuse to see it? Surprisingly, a certain Messenger god voiced up his thoughts:

"Hestia, do you mean that the answer is already clear, but we blind _ourselves _from realizing and taking it?"

Hestia gave her nephew a small smile that warmed up every dark corner in this world.

**Tartarus, Percy's Point of View:**

_Despite all hardest efforts, I couldn't find the way out. There was no way out. Not anymore. But inside, something else slowly formed. It was a new way. But it didn't lead me out. It dragged me deeper into the inside, and before I recognized anything, getting out was no longer an option._

"_Little demi-god, are you too tired to fight? Do you want a helping hand, you pathetic little..." _– A deadly familiar voice disturbed my exhausted brain cells, stirring everything up.

"Not right now gramps, the sun hasn't come up yet." – I hissed angrily, clenching my fist and letting my knuckles kiss the hard soil. Wait, not hard soil, but something fluffy and actually pretty warm. What?

"The sun will never come up." – An hollow voice entered his eardrums, making me shoot up immediately. I wanted to make sure she was real. The original blue eyes of Plasma Knight bored into mine, and what pissed me off most was that she looked just like the first time I met her. Cold, distant and demonic.

I knew that I had to be like that, too if I wanted a surviving chance. But… it was just… simply _wrong_. If I tried to stay alive but in the end losing my humanity, then what was the point of trying? The word _humanity _resounded in my numb mind. Lelantos, the Titan of Air and hunter's skill of stalking preys. The fight replayed in my mind, but somehow there were too many blank spots that I hadn't been able to fill in. It wasn't blurry, but totally empty, shattered into pieces and fragments. It was like a part of my brain had been broken. My past was quite uncertain as well; of course I still remembered the main details. I didn't realize that Plasma had joined me on the quilt.

"You think…"

"You die. I know that, Plasma. Just… it happened so quickly." – I said quickly, somehow ashamed of my own words. It was like I was scared of what happened.

"You're asking yourself how you had managed to beat a titan without godly help." – She tilted her head, the image of "mental check-up". A part of her that I created up there was still in there, good.

"I believe that you've always interfered, Plasma." – I said accusingly, demanding to know whether she had set up the whole thing so that I would always win a battle.

"Your perception is unfortunately very wrong, Percy. I can't control a titan and you know that I didn't even touch my weapon during the fight." – Plasma reminded me softly, like she was careful not to break my nerves.

"His last words were impossibly friendly, _too _friendly coming from a foe." – I picked up undeniable evidence. But knowing "the Kid", she always had a reasonable explanation. I just needed to hear it with my own ears, not knowing it absently in my mind.

"Everything dies. Everything fades. Everyone goes away. Nothing's forever." – She stated it wistfully with some kind of tempo, like she was singing a sad melody. I waited patiently; she never gave a straight answer.

"He knew that. I know that. You know that. There must be a time when we reach the accepting term." – She gave me a meaningful glance. – "He decides that he's done hiding. He wanted to check if he had enough qualities to live any longer. Losing a battle to you proved that it was his time to accept the last phase the cycle of nature."

"So you two did talk about this?!" – I murmured disappointingly.

"His will to win wasn't any weaker than yours, Percy. If not he would have given in at the first blow. You're annoying to spar with." – Plasma smirked a bit, but it looked forcefully and I frowned. – "Besides, you also needed to prove whether you're worthy a resident of Tartarus."

"So you mean he would have killed me if he was able to?" – I wanted to check the information again.

"He fought his hardest. He even believed in victory. He didn't know about the curse of Achilles." – All my doubts were lifted. It was a real fight and I could have ended up becoming a resident of Tartarus the hard way.

"Before I passed out, I felt…"

"Powers entering your body in a sudden which overwhelmed you, isn't it?" – I nodded. I couldn't find better words to say anyway.

"After defeating Lelantos, you possess all his powers. They'll be pretty much handy in near future." – She said, handing me two pieces of toast with peanut butter on them. I gritted my teeth as my mind flashed an image of Tyson, my half-brother who was a Cyclops. – "I know it's hard but you need to…"

"Eat with me then." – I pushed the other piece towards her as my green eyes pierced into hers, not taking a refusal. – "Sooner or later we will run out of food anyway. We just need to figure…"

"Look outside." – Plasma took a bit of the toast as she gestured towards the funny-looking cylindrical _window _on the stony wall.

I held my breath as the sight of a long black river hit me. _The River of Styx. _Of course, it flew through Tartarus to the Underworld.

"Of course, we can now swim in the River of Styx just like any normal rivers! We can sneak up onto the surface and take some food." – It was all planned. Wait, where were we anyway?

"I've stayed here since I decided that I wanted to make Kronos fade with my own hands." – I eyed her carefully; she avoided saying _since my mother died_.

"You didn't lose your humanity, Plasma." – I reminded her the fact that she kept refusing to believe in. – "If you did you would have left me rot here at first place."

"How about thinking of my deeds in a different direction, Percy? What if I'm using you just to kill my father and accomplish my own selfish purposes? To take my father's place and _rule _the world instead?" – She asked me, challenging me to deny the possibilities.

"Without an army of monsters or mastering your potential power, you've managed to humiliate the gods' abilities to rule, Plasma Knight so I don't think you have difficulty in taking their places at all if you really want to do that. The truth is, you're anything but like that! You're not your father, Plasma. You're not your mother either. You're just… you! You're Plasma! Why don't you see things that way?"

"Which way, Percy? I'm a creation of pure corruption! Why don't you see _that_?"

"No, Plasma, we have to stop talking about this crap! I. DON'T. GIVE. A. DAMN. ABOUT. YOUR PARENTS! All I see is a teenage girl who has a shitty past that she doesn't deserve to even know about, who has unwanted gifts but knows how to use them wisely and also who's thirsted for a thing called _normality _that neither of us had a close definition of! So if you're going to give me the sh*t about how… evil you are, then let me tell you something. If you're evil, then everything that ever exists is terribly indescribably evil. And if there's any word that describes something bad much worse than evil, I'll happily use it to describe the world when you're evil."

She stared at me with wide blue eyes but her face betrayed nothing. Her expression was like as if my words didn't get through her at all, she was just simply stunned at my sudden outburst. At that moment, we both avoided each other's eyes and settled down our stuff in awkward silence. I didn't know it was just us or Tartarus was indeed messing everything inside of it up. Whatever I had to face out there was going to be crap and beyond. But like they said, practice makes perfect, so let's check it out. My spine chilled and I immediately turned around to meet the sight of Plasma looked like some kind of… warrior or killer.

"What do you think of visiting our neighbors? I'm sure they'll be fascinated to discover a newcomer and also his new powers."

"Sure, why not? Is it just friendly greetings or a killing spree?" – My eyes washed over the chain hanging on her shoulder around her torso and a scimitar that was big and quite like a boomerang in her small hand.

"What would a visit be like without presents?"

**A/N: Okay, another chapter! I'm irrevocably beat. Please read and review. Also, I have another story called "Just another bloody dawn" in category "Avengers". You might want to check it out.**


	17. AN: SORRY

**Author's Note**

I know that every reader hates this so I'm very very sorry. As you can see I haven't posted for a long time. School's just ended at my place. The final exam has stolen many things away from me and unfortunately that includes my inspiration for this story. I can no longer continue because my brain is completely washed. Many nights I've beaten myself up for being such a cruel person but finally I realize that this is just for fun and entertainment. For that reason, this story is discontinued. Send you my deepest most honest apologies. I'm sure there are plenty of good stories out there and if there's someone who wants to continue this please do. Thanks for your time.


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